





















COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 




























Reading the Declaration of Independence. 






OUR COUNTRY’S 
LEADERS 

AND WHAT THEY DID FOR AMERICA 


BY 

WALTER LEFFERTS, Ph.D. 

AUTHOR OF “NOTED PENNSYLVANIANS” 


ILLUSTRATED 



PHILADELPHIA, CHICAGO, MONTREAL, LONDON 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

c a \ 2 M ^ 


El 174 

.LV-73 


COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
COPYRIGHT, 1924 , BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 


' 

,*• « 


PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS 
PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. 


MAR 20 ’24 



C1A777606 


PREFACE 

This story-history describes the lives of national leaders 
and covers the period from the beginnings of the Revolution 
to the present day. It is written in consonance with the 
recommendations of the Committee of Eight of the 
American Historical Association. 

The children approximately of Grade Five are the 
readers who have been kept in mind; hence the treatment, the 
style, and the subject-matter are suited to arouse their 
interest in American history and to carry the desired ideas to 
them as clearly as possible. Biography especially appeals to 
the child at this stage oi his development. 

In telling these life-stories the style and vocabulary which 
a good teacher would feel justified in using with her class 
have been employed. Stilted English, correct though it may 
be, has been avoided. The author has sought for details 
which would interest children, but has omitted many which 
are of value only to adults. The use of quotation marks in 
a book of this kind to make more vivid the paraphrase of a 
character’s thought probably needs no defense. At any rate, 
it has been consciously adopted. 

No instruction is effective which fails to arouse a response 
from the pupil. The questions appended to each narrative 
are designed to cause the children to think, to express their 
thought, preferably orally, and to read extensively, from their 
own desire, of suitable historical material. Every good 
librarian will be glad to assist the teacher in maintaining in 
the schoolroom a number of timely volumes. 

The writer has consulted the latest authorities and has 
spared no pains to make the narratives clear, accurate, and 
colorful. It is hoped that both children and parents will find 
the book valuable in this day of deepened Americanism. 

Philadelphia, October, 1923. WALTER LEFFERTS. 

iii 





CONTENTS 


MEN WHO HELPED TO MAKE OUR COUNTRY INDEPENDENT 

PAGE 

Benjamin Franklin, Many Men in One. 1 

Samuel Adams, the Sturdy Massachusetts Patriot. 20 

Patrick Henry, Leader of Virginia. 32 

George Washington, First in War, First in Peace. 38 

Thomas Jefferson, a Lover of Freedom. 59 

John Paul Jones, the Sailor Who Terrified England. 74 

George Rogers Clark, a Frontier Fighter. 81 

MEN WHO HELPED TO MAKE OUR COUNTRY STRONG 

Alexander Hamilton, Soldier and Financier. 88 

Stephen Decatur, Jr., a Salt-Water Hero. 100 

Oliver Hazard Perry, the Hero of Lake Erie. 108 

Andrew Jackson, Our First Western President. 114 

MEN WHO HELPED TO MAKE OUR COUNTRY LARGER 

Daniel Boone, the Woodsman of the West. 129 

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Trail-Blazers. 141 

John Charles Fremont, the Scientific Pathfinder. 149 

GREAT INVENTORS 

Eli Whitney, the Man Who Made Cotton King. 160 

Robert Fulton, the Successful Steamboat Maker. 169 

The Men Who Made the First Railroads. 186 

Cyrus Hall McCormick, Who Made America the World’s 

Granary. 192 

Samuel Finley Breese Morse, Sender of Words by Wire .... 202 
Alexander Graham Bell, Sender of the Human Voice by Wire 213 
Thomas Alva Edison, the Electrical Wizard. 227 


v 





















. VI 


CONTENTS 

HEROES OF THE CIVIL WAR 


PAGE 


Abraham Lincoln, Preserver of the Nation. 246 

Ulysses Simpson Grant, Chief of the Blue.278 

Robert Edward Lee, Chief of the Gray . 300 

LEADERS OF OUR NEW NATION 

William McKinley, Leader of Our War with Spain.313 

Clara Barton, the Red Cross Angel of Mercy. 324 

Frances Elizabeth Willard, Leader of the White Ribbon Army 332 
Theodore Roosevelt, the President of Action. 340 








OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

MANY MEN IN ONE 

“ Our cause is the cause of all mankind, and we are fighting for 
their liberty in defending our own .”—Letter to a friend. 

I. FRANKLIN THE BUSINESS MAN 

The Candle-Maker’s Son.—More than two hundred years 
ago, Josiah Franklin, a candle-maker, was living in Boston. 
Mr. Franklin’s wooden house was little, but his family was 
large. The youngest son, Benjamin, was the fifteenth child, 
and by the time he was ready to go to school his oldest 
brothers and sisters were grown-up people. As you may 
suppose, there was not much money to spare for Ben’s edu¬ 
cation. He went to school for only two years. At the age 
of ten Benjamin left school to help his father in the shop. 

There was much for him to do. He was a bright boy, 
active by nature, and his father kept him busy melting tallow, 
molding the candles, cutting and braiding the wicks for them, 
and running errands. But Ben, though busy enough, was 
far from happy. He did not like the business. At last his 
father made him an apprentice to his grown-up brother 
James, who had a printing shop, where he printed the Boston 
Gazette, the second newspaper established in America. 

Ben found pleasure in the work of the prin^ng office, for 
he loved anything that was connected with reading. There 
were no books for boys, and the books for older people we 
should consider very uninteresting. Benjamin, however, read 
all that he could find at home, then saved up his pennies and 

1 


2 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


bought one or two more at the book-shop. Books became a 
passion with him. He simply had to read. Ben made a bar¬ 
gain with his brother, by which he should board himself on 
half the money it had been costing. Then he crossed meat 
and fish out of his bill of fare, lived on a cheap vegetable diet, 
and thus managed to save a little money to buy more books. 

Perhaps Benjamin grew so interested in his books that he 
forgot to do his best in the shop, perhaps James grew jealous 
that his younger brother was more clever than he; at any rate, 
they quarreled and parted. 

Only two cities beside Boston were then large enough to 
have printers—New York and Philadelphia. As there was 
no work in Boston for him, Ben sold some of his books, 
added the money to the little he had saved, and took passage 
on a sailing vessel to New York. Finding no work there, off 
to Philadelphia he started. After going part way by boat, he 
walked across New Jersey to Burlington on the Delaware. 
The journey took two days, and for miles along the road he 
did not see a house. At Burlington he took another boat 
down the river, and on a Sunday morning in October, 1723, 
the tired traveler finally landed at Philadelphia. 

First Experiences in the New City.—Ben Franklin 
walked up High Street, now called Market. He was a rather 
tall and muscular youth of seventeen, with plain features but 
a pleasant expression. His clothes had been wet by rain and 
stained with mud, and no one would have imagined that 
in twenty-five years he would be one of the richest men 
in Philadelphia. 

Ben now felt so hungry after being all night in the boat 
on the river that he was delighted to find at least one bakery 
open. He bought three rolls, which were so large that they 
were like small loaves. As the pockets of his big coat were 
stuffed with shirts and stockings, he put a roll under each 
arm, and, eating the third one, strolled along, looking about 


BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 


3 


him with great curiosity at the unfamiliar faces, houses and 
tradesmen’s signs. 

A girl, standing on the doorstep of her home, thought 
Ben was a curiosity, too, and began to laugh with all her 
might. But Ben walked on and 
paid little attention to her, for he 
had enough else to think about in 
his new surroundings. He had 
gotten so much for his money 
that one of the rolls was all he 
could eat for his breakfast, and 
so he gave the others to a 
poor woman. 

Setting Up Business.—The 
next day Franklin found work 
at his trade. Five years passed 
away, with both good and bad 
luck, but all the time he was get¬ 
ting skill and experience. Though 
he still had very little money, he 
had become a leader among his 
friends. At the end of this 
period his employer failed in 
business. Franklin thought of 
going back to Boston, but felt 
ashamed to return out of work. 

Just at this time, however, 
industry and steady habits 
brought their reward. One of 
his friends, Hugh Meredith, an 
apprentice in the shop where Franklin had worked, was a 
rather idle fellow, with a taste for drink. Franklin, who had 
influence over him, persuaded him to keep sober and attend to 
his work. As Hugh’s father had plenty of money and could 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AS HE AR¬ 
RIVED IN PHILADELPHIA FROM 
BOSTON IN 1723 










4 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


set the young men up in business, Hugh asked Franklin to 
go into partnership with him. Meredith and Franklin accord¬ 
ingly set up a printing shop “in High Street near the Market.” 
In the end Franklin bought his partner’s share of the busi- 



FRANKLIN WHEELING HOME HIS PAPER 


ness, married Deborah Read, the girl who had laughed at 
him, and set out in earnest to make his way in the world. 

The small shop over which hung the sign “B. Franklin, 
Printer,” was large enough at first for all the printing which 
Franklin could find to do. He advertised that in his shop he 
would sell not only imported books, paper, ink, and quill pens, 
but also soap, cheese, feathers, tea and coffee. It must have 
been a fine medley of articles. Here also stood Franklin’s 
printing press. He made his own ink, cast some of his own 
type, and wheeled home on a barrow the paper for the 








BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 


5 


Poor Richard, 1733, 


Pennsylvania Ga¬ 
zette, which he pub¬ 
lished weekly. No 
honest labor was 
beneath him. 

The Famous Al¬ 
manac. “ Keep Thy 
Shop.”—The most 
famous thing pro¬ 
duced in that shop 
was an almanac. 

No family thought 
it could keep house 
without one of 
these paper-backed 
books. They gave 
the calendar with 
predictions of the 
weather for the 
whole year (you 
may judge how cor¬ 
rect the predictions 
were), with jokes 
and proverbs scat¬ 
tered through the 
pages, and with 
blank pages on 
which notes could 
be made. The alma¬ 
nac always hung 
alongside the fire¬ 
place, where it could be easily consulted. Often it was the 
only book in the house, and served both as a diary and as an 
account-book. 


A N 

Almanack 

For the Year of Chrift 

1 7 3 3. 

Being the Firfl: after LEAP YEAR: 

j 4 nd makes ft nee the Creation Years 

By the Account of the Extern Greeks 7241 

By the Latin Church, when O cni.jJ? 6932 

By the Computation of IP'. W. 5742 

By the Roman Chronology 5682 

By the Jeiv'ifb Babbies # 54^ 

Wherein is contained L 

The Lunations, Eclipfes, Judgment of 

the Weather, Spring Tides, Planets Motions & 
mutual Afpe&s, Sun and Moon’s Riling and Set¬ 
ting, Length of Days, Time of High Waxer, 
Fairs, Courts, and obfcrvable Days 

Fitted tothe Latitude of Forty Degrees, 

and a Meridian of Five Hours Weft from London , 
but may without fenfihle Error, ferve alJ the ad¬ 
jacent Places, even from Newfoundland to South- 
Carolina. 


By RICHARD SAUNDERS , Phi lorn. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

Printed and fold by B. FR.J/NKL/N, at the New 
Priming Office near the Market. 


The Third Imprdfion. 


TITLE-PAGE OF POOR RICHARD S ALMANAC 
FOR 1733 











OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Franklin saw that thousands of almanacs were sold each 
year, so he decided to try his hand at making up one, which 
he called Poor Richard's Almanac . He pretended that he 
was only the publisher, and that a man named Richard 
Saunders wrote it. Soon Poor Richard's Almanac drove 
almost all the other almanacs out of the market. The little 
humorous articles which Franklin put into it were really 
witty, and the proverbs he made up were so clever that they 
stuck in the memory when the sayings of other writers were 
forgotten. Many of Franklin’s proverbs are still used every 
day. Here are some of them: 

“ A word to the wise is enough.” 

“ Lost time is never found again.” 

“ A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” 

“ Drive thy business; let not that drive thee.” 

“ Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.” 

“ Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy 
and wise.” 

Franklin followed the advice given by his own proverbs. 
He had another proverb: “Keep thy shop, and thy shop will 
keep thee.” He kept his shop so well that he began to grow 
rich. The Pennsylvania Gazette was a popular newspaper. 
Much of the printing of the city and the state was given to 
him. No longer did he have to sell all sorts of articles in 
order to make a living, but he could follow his special line. 

When Franklin was forty-two, he sold his business for a 
sum payable in eighteen yearly installments, each equal to the 
salary which the Governor of Pennsylvania then received. 
As he had other money well invested in houses and land, 
Franklin now received a good income for the rest of his life. 
His financial success had not been due to luck, except the luck 
which goes with hard work and sensible investments. 


BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 


7 


II. FRANKLIN THE DISCOVERER AND INVENTOR 

Electrical Experiments.—Franklin now retired from 
active business, and was fortunate to be able to do so while 
still in middle age, strong and healthy. “I will no longer be 
at every one’s call but my own,” he wrote in a letter. “I 
expect to have no other tasks than such as I shall give to 
myself, and I shall enjoy the great happiness of having 
leisure to read, study, make experiments, and converse with 
my friends.” This delightful program was almost too good 
to be true, and so Franklin found it. His city, colony, and 
country called upon him for so many services that he was 
busy on other people’s affairs most of the rest of his life. 
This life service has made the world recognize him as a 
great American. 

The experiments of which Franklin spoke were mostly 
in electricity, whose power to do wonderful work was 
then almost unknown. Men had exploded powder and set 
materials on fire by its use, but that was the limit of its appli¬ 
cation. Many persons had noticed its curious effects, but 
this strong servant had not yet been made to do effective 
work for man. Franklin and some of his friends began to 
experiment according to regular plans and soon reported 
valuable discoveries. 

For thousands of years persons had seen lightning flash¬ 
ing across the sky; but they had never thought that the stroke 
which melted iron or instantly killed man and beast could be 
the same kind of force as the spark coming from a glass tube 
rubbed with a silk handkerchief. Franklin’s many experi¬ 
ments led him to suspect that lightning was only a form of 
electricity, because the two forces acted in the same way. If 
electricity could be drawn from the clouds, his idea would be 
proved true. 


8 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


The Lightning-Rod.—“A man in a high tower or a 
church-spire could probably draw down electricity with a 
pointed iron rod,” thought Franklin. Although very high 
rods of this kind were put up in France and successfully con¬ 
ducted electricity to the earth, Franklin was not satisfied until 
he could see this for himself. There was no high tower or 



FRANKLIN BRINGING THE LIGHTNING DOWN FROM THE CLOUDS 


steeple in Philadelphia at that time (1752), but Franklin 
invented his own way of reaching high into the air. 

One hot June afternoon Franklin saw a thunder-storm 
coming. He and his son William went out to a pasture-field. 
They carried a kite made with silk instead of paper. To the 
end of the kite-string was tied a brass key. They raised the 
kite, then took shelter at the door of a shed or stable. 
Franklin stood with the string in his hand, looking out at the 




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 


9 


pouring rain and the flashing lightning. Soon he saw the 
little loose fibers of the string begin to stand up as a cat’s fur 
sometimes does when there is electricity about. He touched 
his knuckle to the key and received a slight shock. “Lightning 
is electricity,” he said. “The clouds are full of electric 
force. Electricity is every¬ 
where.” Franklin and his 
kite became famous. 

Before this time, how¬ 
ever, Franklin had noticed 
that electricity was 
attracted to points. Now 
he thought, “Why should 
not a pointed iron rod, 
projecting above a house, 
protect the house from a 
stroke of lightning?” He 
put such a rod on his own 
house, the first lightning- 
rod in the world, and 
soon had the pleasure of finding that it actually did save 
his home from being set afire. Our houses, factories, 
churches and schools are now protected in this way. 

Electricity Shocks a “Goose.”—Although the lightning- 
rod was Franklin’s only great electrical invention, he dis¬ 
covered many things about electricity and applied it in a 
number of interesting ways. His friends crowded to his 
house as if they were going to an entertainment, and he 
almost always had something new to show them. 

One evening he was about to send a shock through a 
turkey to kill it. Two big “Leyden jars,” which were some¬ 
thing like our modern storage batteries, stood ready charged. 
Franklin’s friends were so excited and so talkative that his 
attention wandered; he received the full shock, and fell in- 



LEYDEN JARS 



















10 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


sensible. It was a narrow escape, but Franklin, who always 
had a joke ready, laughed about it. “I meant to kill a turkey/’ 
said he, “and I nearly killed a goose.” 

Franklin was no goose, however, for he always learned 
something from his experiences. On thinking the matter 
over seriously, he concluded: “I was almost killed, but it was 
done in an instant, and I felt no pain. We now execute 
criminals by hanging, which seems to me rather a cruel 
practice. Why could we not electrocute them?” Franklin’s 
idea is now followed in many parts of our country, and 
criminals go to the electric chair instead of the gallows. 

The Franklin Stove.—But electricity was not the only 
scientific matter which Franklin thought about. He was 
interested in everything useful, learned whatever he could 
from other persons, and then made improvements of his own. 
At that time most persons heated their rooms by the old- 
fashioned fireplaces, and this was a very clumsy and uncom¬ 
fortable way. The sight of a roaring fire was very cheerful, 
but most chimneys did not carry off all the smoke, and, even if 
they did, the blazing fire burned the face while the back was 
cold. Most of the heat went up the chimney, and the waste 
of wood (coal was not then used in America) was great. 
Some of the Germans who had come over to Pennsylvania 
used stoves, but their stoves were big and heavy, and did not 
look so cheerful as an open fire. 

Franklin put his wits to work and invented what he called 
“The Pennsylvania Fireplace,” but which other persons called 
“The Franklin stove.” It was of iron, stood on legs, and was 
open in front, so that the burning wood could be seen. This 
light fireplace or stove could stand well out in the room, with 
a pipe to the chimney, and it heated all the surrounding air. 
It saved a large part of the wood, was so light that it could 
easily be moved about, and looked cheery. 


BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 


11 


“The Franklin stove” became very popular, and stoves 
like it, burning coal instead of wood, are still used in many 
houses, although probably we should not find them in the city. 
This stove made the living-rooms much pleasanter for the 
family, who were more comfortable and did not need to crowd 
around the fireplace. Franklin could have made much money 
by having the stove patented and then making and selling it, 
but the only profit he ever received from it was the pleasure 
of seeing other persons made happier. “As we enjoy great 
advantages from the inventions of others,” he said, “we 
should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by an inven¬ 
tion of ours.” This principle he carried out through his 
whole life. 

III. FRANKLIN IN COLONIAL SERVICE 

Franklin and the Mails. The Albany Convention.—In 
Poor Richard's Almanac Franklin wrote: “ The first great 
mistake in public business is going into it.” If that is so, 
Franklin made a great mistake, for he was in it to a large 
extent. He could never have made his fortune if he had 
not been in the politics of his city and his colony and thereby 
received contracts to do the public printing. 

His first important office was that of postmaster of 
Philadelphia. Few persons wrote letters in those days, so 
the mail was not heavy. Franklin was glad to have the office 
because the post-riders he employed could get news for him 
and could distribute his paper without extra cost. After he 
retired from business he still remained postmaster, and was 
made one of the two postmasters-general of all the colonies. 
He was a good officer and improved almost everything con¬ 
nected with the mails. Letters were actually sent from 
Philadelphia to New York twice a week, even in winter. 

At this time the thirteen English colonies felt that their 
troubles with the Indians, and with the French who stirred 


12 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


up the Indians, were growing worse. The year after 
Franklin became postmaster-general a convention of the 
colonies was held in Albany. This Convention was to make 
a general treaty with the Indians instead of having a different 
treaty made by each colony. Every one saw also that if the 
colonies could manage to act together they could better pro¬ 
tect themselves against both French and Indians. 

Franklin published in his Gazette the picture of a snake 
cut into pieces. These pieces were marked with the initials 
of the various parts of the country, as “ V ” for Virginia, 
and under the picture was the motto “Join or die.” The 
delegates to the Albany Convention liked Franklin’s plan of 
union best of any that was presented, and voted to adopt it. 
The people in the colonies, however, thought the plan gave the 
English Government too much power over them, and the 
English Government thought the plan left the colonies too 
free, so Franklin’s scheme fell to the ground. It took the 
long Revolutionary War to settle the question. 

Franklin as Commander. Agent to England.—A body 
of men, called the militia, had to be organized to resist the 
Indians. Franklin took a leading part, so he was made 
commander of a force of over five hundred men. He did 
not want the post, but the people had confidence in him. 
Doubtless he thought his appointment a good joke, for he 
never went out shooting for amusement and did not even 
keep a gun or pistol in his house; but the Indian outrages 
were no joke, so he took the position, marched his men to 
the Lehigh River, built forts, and protected the settlers. 

This was no easy work for a man fifty years old, used to 
indoor life, who now had to sleep outdoors or on a cabin 
floor in the heart of winter. Franklin, however, was naturally 
strong and had kept himself in good trim by “ air-baths ” 
and swimming. He thrived on the outdoor life, and, after 
two months, when he returned home, he found that at first 


BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 


IS 


he could not sleep comfortably in a regular bed. His men 
considered him a good commander; they paraded before his 
house and fired a farewell salute, which Franklin had 
reason to regret, for it broke some of the glass in his 
electrical apparatus. 

A year later, the colony of Pennsylvania sent him as 
an agent to the English Government, to represent Penn¬ 
sylvania in a dispute with the descendants of William 
Penn. These descendants were still proprietors of the 
colony, but they had not much interest in its affairs except 
in getting all the money possible from it. The dispute drag¬ 
ged on for five years, but Franklin was not overly anxious 
about that. The colony paid him a little for his services 
and he had a good income besides; he associated with the 
most intelligent persons in England and had plenty of time 
for experiments and reading as well as for going into 
society. At last, however, he succeeded in settling affairs 
to the advantage of Pennsylvania, and came home; but he 
was not allowed to stay there long. 

The Pennsylvanians by this time were so disgusted with 
the proprietors that they wanted the king to take over the 
colony and send them a governor whom he should appoint. 
They asked Franklin to be their agent to get this done, so 
once more Franklin set sail for England. This time, though 
he did not dream of it, he was to stay ten years. 

The Stamp Act. Franklin Comes Home.—As soon as 
Franklin arrived, he found that the English Government 
was about to make a Stamp Act. By this, England would 
tax the colonists without their consent, demanding that 
stamps be put on all papers used in law business, all news¬ 
papers and pamphlets, marriage certificates and so on. Our 
American, naturally, did what he could to oppose the Act, 
but it passed. “ The tide was too strong,” said he. “ We 
might as well have tried to hinder the sun’s setting.” 


14 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Now that the Stamp Act was in force, Franklin thought 
that the only thing to do was to obey it; but he did not 
understand how bitterly the colonists felt. He did not 
approve of the mobs who forced the tax-collectors to resign 
and burned the stamps. Some persons misunderstood his 
attitude and went so far as to say that Franklin had planned 
the Stamp Act. One day a mob came to his house and 
threatened to throw out the furniture. Mrs. Franklin, who 
loved her home so much that she had 
refused to go abroad with her hus¬ 
band, was much alarmed, but she 
bravely stayed by the house until at 
last the crowd moved off. 

When the slow merchant vessels 
at last brought news to Franklin that 
his countrymen were bent on resisting 
the Stamp Act, he realized that he 
must help them by every means in his 
power. Through his persuasion many 
men of influence were brought to 
sympathize with the colonies. The Stamp Act was repealed, 
and even his enemies at home acknowledged that Franklin’s 
help had been very - great. 

Franklin at last got into such difficulties through his 
endeavors to help the colonies that in spite of his many 
English sympathizers the Government was much dis¬ 
pleased, and he was in danger of arrest. As he could do no 
more good in England, he quietly left the country. During 
his six weeks’ journey across the Atlantic, the Americans 
and the British had fought at Lexington and Concord. 
When he arrived at Philadelphia he heard from every side 
that there could be no peace until either England or her 
colonies should be beaten. Arguments had failed; Franklin 
stood ready to serve his people in war. 



A STAMP-ACT STAMP 


BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 15 

IV. FRANKLIN AND THE NATION 

Franklin in Congress. Mission to Canada.—The day 
after Franklin reached home he was appointed a member of 
the Continental Congress, which was soon to meet in Phila¬ 
delphia. During the next year and a half he was busy every 
waking hour, working and planning for the benefit of the 
colonies. As he had been postmaster-general for the British 
Government, he was given the same office for the colonies. 

Washington’s army was now keeping the British shut 
up in Boston, and Franklin, with two others, was sent to 
the General to arrange for military supplies and to make 
plans for carrying on the war. That winter General 
Montgomery and Benedict Arnold attacked the British in 
Canada. In the early spring Franklin was one of three 
commissioners who started for Canada to try to persuade 
the native Canadians, who were mostly French, to help 
the Americans. 

It was a terrible March journey for an old man of 
seventy years. No railroads, no steamboats, snow on the 
ground and floating ice on the water! But up the Hudson, 
then along Lake George and Lake Champlain they went. 
Sometimes they slept outdoors in that bitter weather. 
Franklin fell sick and thought he would never see Phila¬ 
delphia again, but he did not turn back. At last the com¬ 
missioners reached Montreal, but found that the American 
army had been defeated, Montgomery was dead, Arnold 
was wounded, and the Canadians would give no help. The 
commissioners returned home disappointed. 

Franklin Sent to France.—Franklin recovered his 
health, and in July had the pleasure of signing his name to 
the Declaration of Independence. In the fall he was again 
made one of three commissioners, this time on a very 
important mission to France. The French Government was 


16 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 



disposed to help the colonies, and no one was more fit to 
send over to France than the “ philosopher,” who was so 
well known there for his electrical discoveries and his inter¬ 
esting writings. Thomas Jefferson was to be one of 
Franklin’s companions, but as Jefferson’s wife became ill, he 
declined the honor. 

The French people were wild with joy to see Franklin 
arrive. No other American could have pleased them so 


BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AT THE COURT OF FRANCE 

much. His plain dress and his plain features made his witty 
conversation seem more surprising. An old man might be 
supposed to be slow in thought and in speech, but Franklin 
never hesitated for an answer. It became the fashion to 
admire Franklin and to have his picture on the mantelpiece 
of the home, in a man’s watch-case, or on a lady’s bracelet. 
One rich man gave him a beautiful house to live in as long 
as he should stay in France. 

The Turning-Point of the War.—For a while all went 
well. Franklin and his fellow-commissioners sold the 





BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 


17 


British vessels which Paul Jones and other American captains 
brought in, and with the money bought guns, powder, and 
other supplies for the American army. After a time, how¬ 
ever, the Americans were steadily beaten. The British fleets 
drove the American ships off the ocean, so no more British 
ships were captured and no more supplies could be sent to 
the Continental army. The French people began to doubt 
whether America would win. 

Then one day, as Franklin and his fellow-workers sat 
in his home, a carriage drove up to the door. Out of the 
carriage jumped a young man, a messenger from America. 
Out of the house rushed all the Americans. “ I hear that 
General Howe has taken Philadelphia. Is it true ? ” cried 
Franklin. “ Yes, sir,” said the young man. Franklin wrung 
his hands in sorrow and turned to enter the house. “ What 
shall we do? The American cause is lost,” he thought. 
“ But,” exclaimed the messenger, “ I have far greater news 
than that. General Burgoyne and his whole army have 
surrendered at Saratoga.” Franklin’s grief turned to joy. 
How the Americans cheered! 

Burgoyne’s surrender was the turning-point of the war. 
France now stood ready to make a treaty with the United 
States to help with ships, men, and money. Without the aid 
of France, we could not have won the Revolutionary War. 
In our dealings with France, Franklin’s assistance was beyond 
measure, and when at last the United States and France made 
peace with England, Franklin was one of the men who had 
the honor to draw up the treaty. 

For a while after the war Franklin had to linger in France 
to settle up affairs, but at last after nine years’ stay he was 
ready to go home. In spite of many vexations in business 
he had been very happy. He said, “ The French have, in 
the greatest perfection, the art of making themselves beloved 
by strangers.” King Louis gave Franklin his picture, set 

2 


18 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


with hundreds of diamonds. Franklin’s journey to the port 
from which he was to leave France was made one great 
celebration by the French people. 

Last Services and Honors.—Not long afterward, Franklin 
became a member of the convention which met at Philadelphia 
to make our Constitution, which is the general rule of our 
Government. Fie was then eighty-one years old and suffer¬ 
ing so much from disease that 
he could not stand up for any 
length of time. He usually 
wrote out his long speeches, 
and a friend read them to the 
convention. In spite of his 
age and sickness, however, he 
was one of the most important 
members. There was much 
bitter discussion, but Franklin 
always tried to bring the 
speakers to some agreement. 

Even when the Constitu¬ 
tion was finished, some mem¬ 
bers said, “We will not sign 
it”; but Franklin came for¬ 
ward with a pleasant little 
speech, saying that the Constitution did not quite satisfy 
him, but that he thought it was the best that could be done. 
Even in regard to its faults he was willing to agree that he 
might be wrong, so he wanted to sign it. The obstinate 
members could not resist Franklin’s sensible advice, and 
the name of every one present went down at the end of 
the Constitution. 

While they were signing, Franklin looked at the chair 
of George Washington, president of the convention. On the 
back of the chair was painted a sun with rays streaming 
from it. “ Well,” said he, “ I have often looked at that 



PORTRAIT OF LOUIS XVI. GIVEN BY 
HIM TO FRANKLIN 


BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 


19 


during the debates over this new plan of government. I 
could not tell whether that sun was a rising or a setting sun; 
but now I know that it is rising.” He was right. The adop¬ 
tion of the Constitution meant a new and increasing glory 
to this nation, and set an example to the rest of the world. 
If Franklin could have chosen what should be the finest act 
of his life, he could not have selected anything greater 
than this. 

One more honor was to be Franklin’s before he died. 
Three years afterward, when eighty-four years old, he signed 
a petition to Congress to do away with slavery in the United 
States. A little later, with his daughter and his beloved grand¬ 
children standing at his bedside, this splendid American 
passed away. Twenty thousand people attended his funeral. 
Those who pass his grave in Christ Church graveyard, Phila¬ 
delphia, may well consider the words of a famous English¬ 
man : “ Of all the celebrated persons whom in my life I have 
chanced to see, Dr. Franklin, both from his appearance and 
his conversation, seemed to me the most remarkable.” 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. What is the difference between Franklin’s way of printing and our 

way of printing a big newspaper? 

2. Find out what Franklin thought about liquor-drinking and how as a 

young man he showed that he was right. 

3. Look up some of the funny electrical experiments with which Franklin 

used to amuse his friends, such as the trick of the king’s crown. 

4 . What buildings in your neighborhood have lightning-rods? Tell 

how you would put up a lightning-rod so that it would really be 
a protection to your house. 

5. Find some additional “ Poor Richard ” proverbs. 

6 . Find some more of Franklin’s many humorous sayings. 

7. Franklin was often called “Doctor.” Why? 

Note. —These questions and topics are not adapted to formal 
review purposes, but indicate possible discussions and simple investi¬ 
gations which will deepen acquaintanceship with Franklin and his times, 
add to Franklin’s reality in the reader’s mind, and give power of acquir¬ 
ing information and expressing thought. 


SAMUEL ADAMS 


THE STURDY MASSACHUSETTS PATRIOT 

“ It would have been better for us to have lost the Revolutionary- 
struggle than now to become a contemptible nation .”—Letter to a 
fellow-signer of the Declaration. 


I. ADAMS, THE BOSTON LEADER 

Samuel Starts in Life.—While Benjamin Franklin was 
carrying on his printing business in Philadelphia, a young 
man, Samuel Adams, graduated from Harvard College just 
outside of Boston. Samuel’s father, 
who was well off, had a great deal of 
influence in Boston, and liked to take 
part in the affairs of the town. He 
built a fine house overlooking Boston 
Harbor, and gave his son a good start 
in life. 

Samuel was excellent in his stud¬ 
ies, and could argue well; but after 
he graduated, it was a question what 
he should do. He disliked the idea 
of being a preacher; he cared nothing 
at all about law; he tried being a mer¬ 
chant, but that had no charm for him. 
Meanwhile, his father had been so occupied with public 
affairs that he did not take care of his own business, and 
it seemed necessary that Sam should find some occupation 
to which he was suited. At last Mr. Adams built on 
his property a malt-house, where grain was prepared to 
brew ale and beer, and took Sam as a partner in the 
malt business. 



SAMUEL ADAMS 


20 


SAMUEL ADAMS 


21 


After a few years Mr. Adams died. Sam and his family 
lived in the big house, and he continued to make malt. But 
he was a poor business man; he could not keep the customers 
he had, and did not exert himself to get more. The big house 
began to look shabby, and Samuel’s children often needed 
clothes and shoes when there was no money to buy new ones. 
Fortunately Sam had many good friends, who always found 
chances for him to earn enough money at least to keep the 
family going. Mrs. Adams was one wife in a thousand, 
active and cheerful, who made a little money reach a long way. 

Adams Finds His True Occupation.—As Adams grew 
into middle life, many persons began to say: “ Sam Adams 
neglects his private business to meddle in public affairs.” 
That was true. He had found something which he could do 
well, and that was to direct political matters. The governors 
who were sent over to Massachusetts from England were 
always getting into trouble with the people of the colony; 
and Samuel Adams was always ready with tongue or pen to 
take the part of the colonists. When any important political 
discussion came up, people thought that Adams ought to be 
one of the persons to look after it; and he was always ready 
to do so. 

At the time of the Stamp Act Adams was forty-two and 
had lost a good income, while at that age in life Franklin had 
made a fortune; but the fact that Adams was poor did not 
prevent him from being highly respected by his neighbors. 
Adams seemed an old man for his years, and his hair was 
turning gray; but he was strong and healthy and he could 
look right to the heart of an argument. 

Troubles with England.—When it became known that 
Franklin had failed to prevent the passage of the Stamp Act, 
Adams felt that great troubles between England and the 
colonists would be the result. He became more active than 
ever in stirring up the Massachusetts people to defend their 


22 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


rights. Two great thoughts were in his mind. “ The English 
Government,” he said, “ has no right to tax the colonists 
unless they consent to it. The colonies should unite in order 
to be able to make England listen to their complaints.” 

The English Government did not mean to be unjust, but 
King George and his supporters could not see that the colo¬ 
nists were used to taking care of themselves and intended to 



manage their business in their own way. The king was not 
used to thinking that the people under him had any rights or 
privileges except such as he chose to grant. He thought the 
colonists ought to be willing to let England govern them as 
she saw best, but the colonists thought: “ We are far away 
from England, in a very different country, and we know 
better than England what we need to do and how we ought 
to spend our taxes. We are English, and we demand all the 
rights that are given to our people across the water.” 

Of all the thirteen colonies, Massachusetts objected most 
strongly to the way the colonies were treated by England, 






SAMUEL ADAMS 


23 


and no other man in Massachusetts was so outspoken as 
Samuel Adams. Night after night he sat up writing articles 
about “No taxation without representation’’ and “Union of 
the colonies.” People coming home late saw the light 
shining from his room-window, and said, “There’s Sam 
Adams writing against the Tories.” 1 Beside writing articles 
for the newspapers, Adams went about town, and talked to 
the workmen about the troubles with England. The work¬ 
men thought he was a fine man, for his clothes were never 
too good to be about the workshops, and he was never too 
proud to speak to any one. He would sit down on a block 
of wood, and talk about politics to any person who was inter¬ 
ested in public affairs. 

New English Taxes.—The Stamp Act was so unpopular 
that the English Government repealed it, but said: “We will 
tax the colonists in a different way.” A tax, therefore, was 
put on some things such as glass, paper, and paint, which were 
not made well in America and, therefore, had to be brought 
over from England. Tea was also taxed. “ They have no 
right to force such taxes upon us,” said the Americans, “ yet 
if we want to use these things we shall have to pay the tax 
on them.” 

The colonists finally decided not to buy any goods from 
England until the taxes were taken off. Instead of fine cloth 
from the English merchants, rich people wore rough home- 
spun cloth which the women themselves wove. They stopped 
eating lamb or mutton, so that there would be more sheep 
to grow wool for the homespun suits. The English mer¬ 
chants soon felt so much the cutting off of their trade that 
they complained bitterly to their government, and all the taxes 
were taken away except the tax on tea. “We will keep that 
tax just to show that we have a right to tax the colonists,” 
said King George of England. 

*The Tories were the friends of the English Government. 



24 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Some people now thought that the troubles between 
England and the Americans were over. But Adams was not 
deceived. He saw that the colonists must watch even more 
closely than before, and he arranged for each Massachusetts 
township 2 to have a “ Committee of Correspondence.” When 
important political news was sent out from Boston, it went 
first to the township committee, and the committee took care 
that every patriot in the township should get it. This arrange¬ 
ment was a fairly good substitute for the telegraph and tele¬ 
phone of today. It united the Massachusetts people better 
than ever. The various colonies soon formed committees to 
correspond with each other and unite the whole nation. 
Samuel Adams was growing very dangerous to England. 

II. OPEN RESISTANCE. THE TEA PARTIES 

The Tea Tax. Philadelphia Resists.—In order to over¬ 
come the opposition fostered by Samuel Adams and his 
friends, the English Government tried a new trick. King 
George and his advisers, to induce the Americans to pay a 
tax on tea, sent over to all the large cities of America ship¬ 
loads of tea at a very low price. The king thought that the 
Americans could not resist such a bargain-sale, and would 
pay the tax for the sake of getting cheap tea. He was wrong 
in his' idea, for the Americans saw through his fine plan and 
declared that they did not wish to save money in that way. 

The king appointed several merchants in each port to 
receive and sell the cheap tea. Philadelphia was the first city 
to take action. When the news that a tea-ship was about to 
sail from London came to the city, the patriots gathered, one 
October day of 1773, in the State House Square. The Polly 
with her tea had sailed for Philadelphia about a month 
before. In another month the slow vessel was expected to 
arrive. What should the citizens do? 

a The various settlements in a colony formed townships. 



SAMUEL ADAMS 


25 


“ This tea shall not be landed,” resolved the great meet¬ 
ing. A committee went to the merchants who had been 
appointed by the King and asked them to promise not to sell 
the tea. When the merchants heard some persons threaten 
to burn the places where the tea would be stored, they decided 
to give the promise. 

At last the Polly came up Delaware Bay. As she entered 
it, one of the pilots who was watching for the ship gave 
Captain Ayres a printed handbill or poster, which said: 
“ Your cargo will bring you into hot water. Your ship may 
be burned. What think you, Captain, of a halter around 
your neck, ten gallons of liquid tar poured on your pate, with 
the feathers of a dozen geese to improve your appearance! 
Fly to the place from which you came, and let us advise you 
to fly without the goose feathers.” 

However, the captain sailed up the Delaware as far as 
Gloucester, New Jersey. There a boat hailed him and asked 
him to come ashore to meet the Tea Committee. The citizens 
of the committee carefully explained what difficulty and 
danger the captain would meet if he tried to discharge his 
cargo at Philadelphia. “ Come up to the city with us, 
Captain,” said they, “ and find out for yourself how the 
people feel.” 

When Captain Ayres reached the city the rougher part 
of the citizens wanted to give him the tar and feathers which 
had been threatened, and the committee had great trouble in 
protecting him. Then he was taken to a meeting in the State 
House. Such a crowd attended that room for a tenth of them 
could not be found. Although it was Christmas time, the 
meeting-place was changed to the square where the citizens 
had met before. Eight thousand people stood around. They 
were quiet and orderly, but Captain Ayres had seen enough 
of the spirit of Philadelphia. He hastened to promise that 
he would land no tea. 


26 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


The Boston Tea-Party.—Before the Polly was turned 
away from Philadelphia, however, three tea-ships arrived at 
Boston. The Tory governor would not let them sail away 
again until the tea should be landed. The Boston citizens had 
been encouraged by hearing of the spirit of Philadelphia, and 
they too were determined to prevent the landing. 

In the Old South Church the Boston men held a meeting, 
of which Samuel Adams was the leader. They listened to 



THE BOSTON TEA-PAHTY 


one speech after another until the short December day turned 
to darkness. “What can be done?” thought the patriots. 
They did not know that a surprise was coming; but perhaps 
Samuel Adams was in the secret. 

At last Adams stood up. “ This meeting can do nothing 
more to save the country,” he announced. As if this were 
a signal, an Indian war whoop sounded and looking out of 
the windows, the people in the church saw coming up the 
street a band of fifty Indians. Under the war paint and 
feathers, however, were good white faces. To the wharf 







SAMUEL ADAMS 


27 


rushed the Indians, while thousands of the Boston people 
followed. Straight on board of the tea-ships they went, and 
in the moonlight hauled out the chests by hundreds, chopped 
them open with hatchets, and emptied the tea into the salt 
water. The governor had saved neither tax nor tea for 
King George. 

The Tea in Other Cities.—At Charleston a cargo of tea 
was landed, but as no one would buy or sell it, it was stored 
away in damp cellars. There it soon spoiled; so the tea was 
disposed of just as well as if it had been thrown overboard. 

At New York two tea-ships entered the harbor. One had 
only a few chests on board, and the captain denied that he 
carried any. When the people found that he had deceived 
them, they emptied the chests into the water. The other 
vessel was not permitted to come to the dock, but its captain 
landed. Then the people formed a big parade. “ Come, 
Captain,” they said, “ let us escort you back to the wharf.” 
The bells of the churches rang; flags fluttered from the 
liberty-poles, and a band of musicians played, as the English 
captain was politely led to his rowboat. Off he went to his 
vessel, and off went the vessel across the sea. 

A fine ship, the Peggy Stewart, came to Annapolis, then 
the capital of Maryland, with a little tea among the rest of 
the cargo. The ship’s owner, Anthony Stewart, lived in 
Annapolis. Like the other merchants of the town, he had 
signed an agreement to import no tea; but as there was only 
a little, and he wanted to unload the rest of the ship’s goods, 
he said : “ Oh, a little won’t hurt,” and paid the tax on the tea. 
The people were furious. A mob collected and was about to 
burn the Peggy. Anthony Stewart suddenly saw a chance 
to prove he was not a real traitor to the American cause. 
“ I will burn her myself,” said he. She was so good a ship 
that Stewart had named her after his wife; but with a sad 
heart he rowed out and threw a blazing torch into her cabin. 


28 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


The Peggy burned to the water’s edge; and that bonfire should 
have showed King George the determination of the Ameri¬ 
cans to resist unjust taxation. 

III. WAR AND INDEPENDENCE 

Lexington and Concord.—Samuel Adams and his Com¬ 
mittee of Correspondence sent messengers in all directions to 
spread the news of the Tea-Party, as they called it. Paul 
Revere, “ a man of sense, spirit, and high public character,” 
rode with the good tidings all the way to Philadelphia. The 
English Government of course was angry. General Gage, 
who commanded the British troops in Boston, was instructed 
to arrest Samuel Adams as the leader of the patriots, but he 
did not dare to do this. Had Adams been arrested and sent 
to England, the English Government would have made short 
work of such a “ traitor.” 

General Gage, however, tried another way to silence 
Adams. He sent a secret messenger to promise that if Adams 
would cease to oppose the measures of the English Govern¬ 
ment, the King would give him money and a high position. 
Adams replied, “You cannot induce me to abandon the 
righteous cause of my country.” Here was an American 
patriot and leader who suffered from poverty nearly all his 
life, yet scorned to put his own profit above that of his 
native land. 

General Gage received extra troops, and he grew bolder. 
One April evening in 1775, soldiers began to pass down to 
the Boston wharves. They were going to row over to the 
other side of the harbor, and march through the country to 
seize guns and ammunition which the patriots had stored at 
Concord. Paul Revere started off to warn the people along 
the road, and especially Samuel Adams and John Hancock, 
who were staying at Lexington, on the way the British 
would pass. 


SAMUEL ADAMS 


29 


At midnight Paul Revere reached the little village of 
Lexington. He galloped up to the minister’s house, where 
militia were guarding the sleeping Adams and Hancock. 
“ Don’t make a noise,” exclaimed the sergeant in charge of 
the guard. “ Noise! ” replied Revere. “ You’ll have noise 
enough before long. The regulars are coming.” Fifty of 
the militia turned out of their beds and formed a line on 
Lexington Green to meet 
the thousand British regu¬ 
lars. Adams and Hancock 
came over from the minis¬ 
ter’s house and anxiously 
watched them. 

In the early morning 
the British arrived. “Dis¬ 
perse, ye rebels, disperse!” 
cried the English com¬ 
mander. The militia stood 
fast; the British fired, and 
a score of the Americans 
fell dead and wounded. Adams and Hancock saw that 
resistance then was useless, and hurried across the fields 
to a place of safety. Before noon that day, however, it was 
the British who needed a place of safety. They reached 
Concord, but the Americans swarmed around them like 
stinging wasps, firing from behind trees and stone walls. 
Three hundred of the British fell, and the rest, “ with their 
tongues hanging out like dogs ” from heat and toil, were 
glad to get back to Boston. War had begun. “ What a 
glorious day! ” cried Adams, as he and Hancock pre¬ 
pared to go to Philadelphia to attend the Second Conti¬ 
nental Congress. 



PAUL REVERE’s RIDE 









Congress appointed a committee to draw up a declaration, of 
independence. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin 
were the two most noted members of the committee, and 
Jefferson really wrote almost all of the paper. 

On the fourth of July, 1776, the great Declaration was 
agreed upon by Congress, but it was not signed by all until 
a month later. John Hancock, as president of Congress, 
signed his name in a large and bold hand. “ Now,” he said, 
“ George the Third can read that without his spectacles.” 
Benjamin Franklin could not resist making his little joke, 


30 OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 

In Congress. The Declaration of Independence.—This 
Congress found a long task before it. It directed the country 
in the war, yet most of the members said, “ We are resisting 
unjust acts of the British Government, but we are not trying 
to be independent of England.” They thought that Adams 
was entirely too anxious for the independence of America. 
Finally people began to see that freedom must come and 


BRITISH RETREAT FROM CONCORD 





SAMUEL ADAMS 


31 


“We must all hang together, or we shall all hang separately.” 
“ Another glorious day,” thought Samuel Adams. 

During all the rest of the war Adams remained in Con¬ 
gress, helping to make good the Declaration. One after 
another his friends who had signed that paper with him were 
called to other service, and other men took their places; but 
until the real fighting of the war ended, Adams was found 
doing his best to direct the affairs of the nation. After seven 
years of work in Congress, this steadfast patriot returned to 
spend the rest of his life in his native city of Boston. Ameri¬ 
cans will always remember that Samuel Adams was the first 
to say in public, “ America must be an independent nation.” 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Which had the better start in life, Franklin or Adams? Why? 

2. Tell of the many ways in which your Government raises taxes today. 

3. Find particulars about King George the Third’s disposition and his 

peculiar ideas. 

4. Through what cities would a letter from the Massachusetts Com¬ 

mittee of Correspondence pass to reach the Georgia Committee? 
Can you find out how long it would take on its journey? 

5. Read the story of General Gage and the boys of Boston. 

6. Read the full story of what happened on April 19, 1775, at Lexington 

and Concord. 


PATRICK HENRY 


LEADER OF VIRGINIA 

“The first thing I have at heart is American liberty; the second 
thing is American union .”—Speech in Richmond when Virginia adopted 
the United States Constitution. 

Patrick in the Woods.—At the time Franklin retired from 
business in Philadelphia, a boy named Patrick Henry was 
rambling about the woods in Virginia. No Indian liked better 
to be out of doors. He listened to the 
birds and tried to learn what their songs 
and cries meant; he went swimming and 
fishing in the South Anna River; he took 
his flint-lock gun and hunted for game 
in the forest. Some people thought 
Patrick spent too much time in this way, 
and, indeed, he had little regular school¬ 
ing ; nevertheless, as he was a bright boy, 
he managed to pick up a fair education. 

Farm and Business.—At fifteen, 
Patrick’s free days on his father’s plan¬ 
tation ended, and he began to work in a country store. The 
next year Mr. Henry bought a stock of goods for Patrick 
and his older brother, and started the two boys in store¬ 
keeping on their own account. What could be expected from 
such young merchants ? The store lasted just one year; then, 
as the customers were better at running up bills than paying 
them, the firm of Henry and Henry went out of business. 

Being out of regular work did not prevent Patrick from 
falling in love and getting married at the age of eighteen. 
His wife’s father gave the young people half a dozen slaves, 
32 



PATRICK HENRY 


33 


some of them too young to work, and a tract of poor land. 
Now Patrick turned farmer. He toiled with his slaves in 
planting the corn and hoeing the tobacco. It was hard for 
him; expenses grew larger as children came, and his father 
and father-in-law had to help him with gifts of money 
and food. 

One day the farmhouse took fire. It was burned to the 
ground, and most of the furniture with it. It was a heavy 
blow to the young man, but he sold some of the negroes and 
with the money opened another country store. This second 
trial had no better success than the first, and after three years 
he gave it up forever. He was twenty-four years old, with 
wife and children to support, in debt, and with three failures 
against him. It seemed as though Patrick Henry would not 
make much of a success in life. 

The Young Lawyer.—Patrick doubtless thought very 
hard about what he might now do for a living. Finally he 
decided to study law. In those days, lawyers in the colonies 
did not need to go through a regular school, but could study 
at home for examination. Patrick was a good thinker and 
had read a great deal of history; these were good foundations 
for his purpose. He applied himself night and day to his 
books, and in a short time thought he was ready. To take 
the examination he was obliged to travel to Williamsburg, 
which then was the capital of Virginia. He was too sure of 
himself, and nearly made another failure. The examiners 
said, “ You have not prepared yourself well enough.” 
Patrick, however, seemed so intelligent about what he did 
know, and begged so hard for a license, that the examiners 
at last decided to let him pass. It was a happy young man 
who rode home that day. 

Patrick Becomes Famous.—By the time England had 
driven the French out of America (1763) Patrick Henry had 
been a lawyer for three years. There came up a dispute 

3 


34 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


which concerned a Virginia law about payment of the minis¬ 
ters’ salaries in tobacco. Henry was engaged by the side 
which wanted to change the law. It was the most important 
case which had ever come to him. When he stood up he 
hesitated at first. Most of the people present had known him 



PATRICK HENRY ADDRESSING THE VIRGINIA ASSEMBLY 


since childhood; now they thought, “ Patrick Henry is mak¬ 
ing another failure.” 

But Patrick began to speak with force and power. He 
stood up tall and straight; his dark eyes flashed; his fine voice 
filled every comer of the court room. The people listened 
with pleasure. Soon the boldness of his words attracted their 
attention. The opposing lawyer had said, “ This is the law; 
the! people of Virginia cannot change it without the consent 
of England.” But Patrick declared: “ Virginia ought to 
make her own laws without interference from England. We 
know what laws we need better than does the King.” 

What daring words these were from a young man! 
" Treason, treason ! ” cried the lawyer on the opposite side. 




PATRICK HENRY 


35 


But the people approved and the jury too. The bold speaker 
said only what many in Virginia were already thinking, but 
had not dared to say. After the speech the people gathered 
around Patrick, lifted him on their shoulders and carried him 
outside, where they praised him to the skies. 

Patrick no longer was unknown to fame. After this when 
the people of this part of Virginia wished to measure a 
lawyer, they often said, “ As good a speaker as Patrick 
Henry.” Soon Patrick was elected to represent the people 
in the Virginia legislature at Williamsburg. The news of 
the Stamp Act had just reached America. Patrick was a 
new member, but he took the lead against the Stamp Act. 
Again people cried “ Treason!” at his words, but he suc¬ 
ceeded in waking up the Virginians and making them resist 
paying the taxes which England wished to collect. 

Patrick Henry in the Continental Congress.—Ten years 
of work for himself and for the American cause passed 
away; then Patrick Henry was called to be a member of the 
First Continental Congress. The struggle between the 
Americans and the English Government was coming to its 
height. Guns would soon take the place of speeches. George 
Washington had also been elected to Congress from Vir¬ 
ginia. One day toward the end of August, Patrick Henry, 
on his way to Philadelphia, visited Washington at Mount 
Vernon and spent the night. Next day the two men set out 
on horseback for their journey to the Quaker City. They 
crossed the Potomac on a ferry-boat, rode to Annapolis, 
sailed across the broad Chesapeake Bay, and after four days’ 
travel came to Philadelphia. 

The next morning the Continental Congress met at Car¬ 
penters’ Hall, which still stands. All of the fifty members of 
Congress were patriots, but very few of them had ever met 
before. Patrick Henry made the first speech. He was 


36 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


dressed so plainly and seemed so hesitating that at first no one 
thought much of him. As he warmed to his work, however, 
the members soon whispered in admiration, “Who is it? 
Who is it?” 

They listened to his words with still more respect the 
next day, when Congress got into a wrangle, because the 
colonies were jealous of each other. Then Henry rose and 
said: “ We must not think of people as Virginians, Penn¬ 
sylvanians, New Yorkers and New Englanders. I am not 
a Virginian, but an American.” It was a fine spirit to show 
at a time when most persons thought more of their own 
particular parts of the country than of the country in general. 
In that spirit America was born. 

At last the work of the First Continental Congress was 
over. The members had done all they could both to get their 
American rights and to avoid war. But Henry knew in his 
heart that war could not be prevented. England and the 
colonists could not agree, and who could decide the question 
between them? He went back to Virginia and began to 
gather the men together for drill, preparing for war. 

“Liberty or Death.”—The next spring (1775) there was 
a convention in St. John’s Church in Richmond. The old 
church still stands on a hill not far from the James River. 
Patrick Henry went there to represent his part of Virginia. 
The day was mild, and people crowded the open doors of the 
church and clung to the window ledges to hear him. This 
time there was no hesitation in beginning. It was his most 
wonderful speech. 

“ There is no longer any room for hope,” he declared. 
“ We have done everything that could be done in peace. If 
we wish to have our rights we must fight. The next gale 
that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash 
of resounding arms. Why stand we idle here? Is life so 


PATRICK HENRY 


37 


dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of 
chains and slavery? I know not what course others may 
take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! ” 

Henry was right. The next news from the North brought 
word of the fights at Lexington and at Concord, of the retreat 
of the British to Boston and of the gathering of the Massa¬ 
chusetts men to surround the city and pen the British there. 
War had begun. In the war, as we know, Virginia played 
a great part, and it was largely Henry’s influence that aroused 
her to do it. Though Patrick Henry lived to be an old man, 
and was three times governor of Virginia, his greatest day 
was the day of “ Liberty or Death ” in St. John’s Church. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. How was life on a Virginia farm in Patrick Henry’s time different 

from the farm life we know? 

2 . Tell what “jury” and “treason” mean. Do we use these words now? 

3. Find out all you can about the use of tobacco as money in Virginia 

and Maryland. Why was it used? 

4. What did Patrick Henry mean when he said, “ I am not a Virginian, 

but an American ” ? Show how that spirit is a good one to have 
at present. 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 

FIRST IN WAR, FIRST IN PEACE 

“As the sword was the last resort for the preservation of our 
liberties, so it ought to be the first thing laid aside when those liberties 
are firmly established .”—Letter to a friend. 

I. THE VIRGINIA PLANTER 

Washington’s Marriage.—One morning in May, not long 
before the French were driven out of North America by the 
English, a young officer, Colonel George Washington, was 
riding through Virginia on an important errand. As he 
passed the house of one of his friends, he was invited to 
stay for a day or two. “ No,’’ said Washington, “ my 
errand is too important.” “ Well, then, stay to dinner,” said 
his friend. Washington agreed, but told his servant to have 
the horses ready to leave as soon as dinner was over. 

At dinner Washington met another visitor, a beautiful 
young widow, Mrs. Martha Custis. The two found each 
other very agreeable. Washington had gained great fame 
by leading the troops when General Braddock was defeated 
and killed by the French and Indians. No doubt Mrs. Custis 
admired him, and he on his part seemed to forget his im¬ 
portant errand. The servant brought the horses to the porch 
at the time set, but Colonel Washington was not ready to 
leave. All the afternoon, and until sunset, the faithful 
servant stood at his post. At last Washington decided to 
stay over night, and it was late the next morning when he 
tore himself away. 

The next January, as soon as the war had ended, there 
was a wedding at which Mrs. Custis became Martha 
Washington. George Washington left the army, and the 

38 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


39 



h a ppy pair went to live on his plantation of Mount Vernon. 
It was on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, a few miles 
below the spot where the city of Washington now stands. 
Now Washington began to be a farmer in earnest. He had 


SHARPLESS MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON, 1795 

not only his own land to look after, but also the various 
properties which his wife owned. People usually think of 
him as a soldier, but he loved peaceful farming much better 
than fighting. 

Washington’s Appearance and Character.—Washington 
was only twenty-seven when he brought home his bride. 



40 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 



Fortune had been good to him. He had a charming wife, and 
owned much property. Youth, health and strength were his. 
Men liked, respected and admired him for his own sake, not 
because of his riches. 

Though he could scarcely be called handsome, he was a 
fine-looking man, over six feet tall, and straight as an arrow, 

with fair complexion and 
blue eyes. Broad 
shoulders, long arms and 
big hands showed his 
great strength. No one in 
Virginia could beat him at 
riding a spirited horse. 
He could fling an iron 
bar farther than could any 
of the other men in his 
neighborhood. 

Washington’s charac¬ 
ter was as fine as his 
appearance. Every one 
knows the stories that 
show his truthfulness. 
There was exactness about 
everything he did. Al¬ 
ready he had proved by his adventures in the wilderness that 
he was brave and determined. Though somewhat inclined to 
be grave and serious, he also liked a joke and a good time. 
All in all, men considered him worthy to be a leader. 

Work and Pleasure.—Many Virginia planters left the 


MARTHA WASHINGTON 


care of their lands and their negroes to overseers, while they 
spent their time in fox-hunting, paying visits, or entertaining 
friends. But Washington thought no man was too good to 
manage his own business. Before sunrise, both in summer 
and in winter, he was up and about. The many slaves at 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 


41 


Mount Vernon found him a strict master, but a kind one. 
Tobacco was his great crop, and tobacco needed much labor 
to raise it. If the tobacco was to be plentiful and good, the 
slaves must work hard. Their master set them a fine example. 

Yet there was plenty of fun and enjoyment in Washing¬ 
ton’s life. He loved horses and dogs, and nothing pleased 
him better than to ride out fox-hunting with a good pack 
of hounds. Whenever there was a horse-race, Washington 



MOUNT VERNON 


liked to see it. Mrs. Washington and he gave many good 
dinners to their friends and were invited out in return. There 
were dancing and card-playing to pass the time, and when 
the Washingtons traveled to Annapolis or Philadelphia, they 
always went to the theatre. 

Washington, however, did not neglect his religious 
duties. Each Sunday found the Mount Vernon coach bearing 
Martha Washington to church, with George on his fine horse 
trotting alongside. Religion was no mere form to Wash¬ 
ington; it was the rule and guide of his great manly life. 

Washington in the Continental Congress.—Washington 
took time from his business and his pleasure to keep an eye 



42 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


on public affairs. Samuel Adams had let his business suffer 
while he was watching political matters, but Washington was 
able to keep in mind both his own affairs and those of the 
country. As the dispute between America and England grew 
hotter, Washington took part in the meetings and discussions 
that were held. The news came that the English Govern¬ 
ment, in revenge for the Boston Tea-party, had ordered that 
no ships should enter or leave Boston, and that this put most 
of the people out of work. Washington rose in one of the 
meetings and said: “ I am ready to raise a thousand men, 
fit them out at my own expense, and march to Boston to help 
drive out the English troops.” His hearers knew that this 
was no idle boast, and that many wealthy young planters who 
were Washington’s friends would stand by him and do the 
same thing. Washington was exceedingly quiet, but when 
he said anything, it was worth while hearing. 

“ This is the man we want,” said the Virginians, and 
they chose him to be one of those who represented Virginia 
in the first Continental Congress. We know of his journey 
with Patrick Henry to Philadelphia to attend the meeting 
of Congress. Washington was no talker. He listened care¬ 
fully to the speeches in the Congress, and returned with his 
mind made up to see the matter through to the end. The 
next year a second Continental Congress was held in Phila¬ 
delphia, and again Washington was chosen to represent the 
people of Virginia. 

He was ready to go. “ It is my full intention,” he said, 
“ to devote my life and fortune to the cause we are engaged 
in.” In the meetings of the Congress Washington now wore 
his blue and buff uniform as a Virginia colonel. That was 
his quiet way of showing that he would be ready for fighting 
if he were needed. The great question just then was what 
to do with the army which was keeping General Gage shut up 
in Boston. , Fifteen thousand men were there, getting along 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


43 


as best they could, but they had no one general to command 
them. It was really a collection of men, ready to fight, but 
not a good army. 

Washington Made Commander-in-Chief of the Army.— 
Samuel Adams had a cousin, John Adams, who was also a 
member of the Congress. John Adams was a fine speaker 
and had great influence over the other members. He saw 
that something must be done about the troops; so he pro¬ 
posed that Congress should take the men in front of Boston 
and make of them a Continental 1 army. This was done. 
Now the army needed a leader. Every one was anxious to 
hear the name of the man who would be nominated by 
John Adams. 

Near John Adams sat Washington in his uniform, lean¬ 
ing forward with great interest to hear whether it would be 
any of his friends. Adams took a great deal of time to tell 
what kind of man was needed. Then he closed his long 
speech with the words: “ These requirements are high, but 
they are found in one of our members, and he is the man 
whom I now nominate—George Washington of Virginia!” 

The last thing that Washington expected was to hear his 
own name. So surprised was he that he sprang to his feet 
and rushed into the next room, away from Congress. He 
was elected without a vote against him. There were many 
other good soldiers in America, but Congress knew the high 
character of Washington, and trusted the army to his care. 

Washington did not think so highly of himself as Con¬ 
gress did. Modestly he wrote to his wife, Martha: “ It is 
a trust too great for my capacity. I should enjoy more real 
happiness in one month with you at home than I could 
abroad though my stay were to be seven tim es seven years. 

i The army was ca iied Continental because it waiTunder the direction 
of Congress, which represented most of the English people on the 
continent of North America. 




44 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Washington soon set off for Boston to take command of 
the new Continental army. The planter had turned to be 
a soldier again. 

II. THE FIRST YEARS OF THE WAR 

Washington and Howe.—It was the third day of July 
when General Washington took command of his army. His 
men were brave, but, oh, how little like soldiers they looked! 
They had no uniforms, they carried all kinds of guns, and 
they had not much idea how to drill nor how to obey. When 
they wanted to go home, they went, and came back when 
they felt like it. There was almost no powder in the camp 
and there were very few cannon. 

Fortunately for the new general with his new army, the 
British had had such a bitter lesson in trying to capture 
Bunker Hill that they respected the fighting ability of the 
Americans. General Howe had become the English com¬ 
mander in place of General Gage, and Howe was satisfied to 
let his men stay quietly in Boston looking at the Continental 
troops. So through the winter nothing great was done, and 
Washington had time to put his army into better shape. 

In the village of Cambridge, Washington made his head¬ 
quarters. The house where he stayed still stands, and the poet 
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow lived and died in it. One 
midwinter day a coach drawn by four horses, and with negro 
servants in livery of scarlet and white , 2 rolled up to the door. 
Martha Washington stepped out. She had come all the way 
from Virginia to be with her husband. No doubt during the 
evenings he often talked to her of his plans for the spring. 

Spring came, and one morning General Howe woke up 
to find American cannon planted on a hill that looked right 
into Boston. Washington had had heavy guns dragged on 

2 It has been thought that the red and white stripes of our flag were 
suggested by the Washington colors. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 


45 


sleds over the snow all the way from New York state. The 
shot from these guns could strike into the middle of the city 
or could damage the British ships in the harbor. Why 
General Howe had not put his own guns on that hill, nobody 
knew. Since Washington had gotten ahead of him, however, 
there was nothing to do but to take his army and sail away. 
It was a good beginning for the new general. 

Crossing the Delaware. Victory at Trenton.— But the 
British soon returned to another city. This time it was New 
York. General Washington fought hard to keep them from 
taking the* city, but could not prevent them. He had to 
retreat across New Jersey toward Philadelphia. Many of his 
men deserted. The time of enlistment of many more ran out 
and they went home. When Washington reached the Dela¬ 
ware River, only a small part of his army was left. “ Now 
I have him,” thought General Howe; but Washington crossed 
into Pennsylvania and destroyed every boat along the river 
so that Howe could not follow him. When Howe reached 
the Delaware, all he could do was to place his troops along 
the New Jersey side, and wait for the river to freeze over so 
that his men could cross on the ice. 

It seemed as though the British had a great advantage; 
but they forgot that they were dealing with a man whose 
motto was, “Never say die.” On Christmas afternoon 
Washington divided his little army into three parts. Each 
part was to cross the Delaware at a different place and attack 
the enemy. As it turned out, only Washington’s own part of 
the army crossed over. He particularly wanted to bag the 
Hessians 3 at Trenton. 

The river was full of floating ice; the wind blew fiercely; 
a storm of snow and sleet began; but all night long 
Washington’s boats went back and forth across the river, 

3 The Hessians were German soldiers who had been hired to fight in 
the English army. 




46 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


carrying over the Americans. The men who rowed did so 
wonderfully well that not even a musket fell overboard. At 
last all the troops stood on the Jersey side. Then there was 
a march of nine miles through the bitter cold and storm to 
Trenton. Two men fell down tired out, and froze to death, 
but on the others 
went. One of Wash¬ 
ington’s officers sent 


word: “General, the 
muskets are so wet 
we cannot fire them 
off. What shall we 


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zmr 


.Reading 


3a 


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v"VA> __.Norristown \ f 

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Germantown" 

4 Vc Philadelphia^^ Mt - Hou y 
r WWfeflt Chester {^©Camden 

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ZChada&*\ Chester J-g . 

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Trenton 


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MONMOUTH 


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pdentown 


THE NEW JERSEY CAMPAIGN 


do?” “Use the bayo¬ 
net !” said Washington; 
and they marched on. 

The Hessians were 
celebrating Christmas 
by g e 11 i n g drunk. 
While their commander 
was playing cards, his 
servant brought in a 
note which the man who sent it said was very important. 
That note was from a Tory who had seen the Americans 
marching toward Trenton. The Hessian commander thought 
the card-game was more important than the note. He thrust 
the note into his pocket and went on playing. Perhaps he, 
too, was somewhat drunk. He never read the note, for in a 
short time he was dead. 


















GEORGE WASHINGTON 


47 


The Americans rushed into Trenton, taking the Hessians 
by surprise. They used their bayonets, and the Germans ran, 
but found the Continental soldiers coming also from the other 
side and blocking their retreat. The American cannon now 
began to fire along the streets, the German commander fell 
mortally wounded, and the Hessians threw down their guns 
and surrendered. Washington captured nearly a thousand 
men, and lost few of his own. It was a greater success than 
had seemed possible, and it put new courage into the hearts 
of all loyal Americans. 

Battle of Brandywine. Howe Captures Philadelphia.— 
General Howe now thought that as he had possession of 
New York it would be a good stroke to capture Philadelphia. 
It was the largest city of the United States, and was called 
the capital because Congress met there. Howe tried to march 
his army across New Jersey, but Washington, whose army 
was now growing larger, prevented that move. Then Howe 
used his ships again. He put the troops on board and tried 
to sail up Delaware Bay, but the Tories warned him: “The 
rebels have blocked up the river; your ships can never get 
to Philadelphia.” 

Howe turned about, and sailed up Chesapeake Bay. He 
landed his men at the head of the bay, and started off toward 
the “rebel capital.” Washington had fewer men than Howe, 
but he met the British at Brandywine Creek. While the 
main body of the British kept Washington busy, some of 
their troops made a wide circuit and came around in the rear 
of the Americans, Washington had to retreat, and General 
Howe joyfully marched his army into Philadelphia. 

Battle of Germantown. —There had been great alarm in 
Philadelphia when it was known that Washington was beaten. 
Congress moved to Lancaster. The Liberty Bell, which had 
been rung when the Declaration of Independence was read to 
the people, was carted off and stowed away under the floor of 


48 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


a church. The people hid their property, and many left 
the city. 

General Howe took up his quarters in the city itself, but 
he kept a strong force at Germantown to watch Washington’s 
army. He remembered the trick that Washington had played 
him at Boston, but the troops did not think there was much 
danger. Early one foggy October morning, however, a 
week after the British had marched into Philadelphia, the 
Americans came down into Germantown without any warn¬ 
ing. General Wayne led 
one body of the Conti¬ 
nentals and General Greene 
the other. 

The British were com¬ 
pletely surprised. Wayne’s 
men were driving all before 
them with the bayonet, 
when some of the English 
took shelter in the house of 
Benjamin Chew, which still stands. It was so strongly built 
of stone that it was a regular fort. The Americans stopped 
to break into the house, but found it a hard nut to crack. 
Even cannon balls did little hurt to the solid building, while 
the patriots fell thickly around it. 

General Greene’s division of the army came up, but in the 
fog and thick smoke Greene’s men thought Wayne’s troops 
were the British. They fired on their brother-soldiers, who 
were so surprised they began to retreat. Just then more. 
British troops came from Philadelphia and every one saw 
that the time to win the battle had passed. Washington was 
bitterly disappointed, as he led his troops away, but he had 
shown the British that they were never safe even when they 
had defeated him. In a short time he took his army to 
Valley Forge on the Schuylkill, to spend the winter. 





GEORGE WASHINGTON 


49 


III. VALLEY FORGE TO YORKTOWN 

Misery at Valley Forge.—It was the middle of December 
when the Continental army, about eleven thousand strong, 
marched toward Valley Forge. The weather was bitterly 
cold, and some of the men had no shoes. Their road could 
be traced by the bloodstains from their feet, cut by the frozen 
ground. The whole army looked forlorn The clothes of 
the men were ragged, all 
their guns were rusty, and 
few of them had bayonets; 
the soldiers’ faces had a 
pale and hungry appear¬ 
ance. 

At Valley Forge, Val¬ 
ley Creek flows between 
two steep hills. It pours 
its water into the Schuyl¬ 
kill, about twenty miles 
from Philadelphia. This 
was a good place from 
which to watch General Howe, but it was not at all a 
comfortable spot in which to spend the winter. 

Washington took up his quarters in a little stone house 
which still stands near the river, but not until his men had 
built their own shelters. The General had at once set them 
to work putting up log cabins. These huts were not bigger 
than ordinary bedrooms, yet twelve men lived in each, so 
there was a good deal of crowding. The soldiers plastered the 
walls with clay to keep out the wind, and there was a fireplace 
in each hut, but the cabins were poor places after all. Still 
the soldiers thought it far better to have such houses than to 
sit up all night outdoors by a fire, as many had to do before 
the cabins were finished. 

4 



Washington’s headquarters at 

VALLEY FORGE 



50 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


It was a cruel winter. The soldiers almost starved, and 
many did freeze. Food and clothes were not very scarce in 
the country, but Congress failed to see that the army was 
properly supplied. The officers whose business it was to 
furnish the supplies were not even punished for their neglect. 
In the little huts, nearly buried by snow, thousands of the 
men lay sick. What else could be expected? Sometimes 
there were hardly enough troops fit for duty to guard the 
trenches. When a soldier took his turn as sentry, his com¬ 
rades in the hut lent him some of their clothing to keep him 
warm; yet many a sentry froze at his post. 

“Each day is a living death,” said the men, yet they 
endured their hardships with wonderful patience. The secret 
of their endurance was that their leader set them such a fine 
example. It was not Washington’s fault, they knew, that 
they were suffering. Whatever he could do for them was 
done, and he pitied the miseries which he could not prevent. 
The men dearly loved the General, and he admired and praised 
the way they bore their trials. Martha Washington, who had 
come to be with her husband, as she was at Cambridge, spent 
her time knitting stockings and scarfs for the soldiers. The 
women of those days followed her lead. 

The English in Philadelphia.—What was General Howe 
doing through the winter? He and his men were safely 
housed in comfortable Philadelphia. They were not at all 
anxious to leave their warm fires and march out into the 
frozen country. Besides, the battle of Germantown had 
given the British a wholesome fear of Washington’s fighting 
power. If Howe had known how weak and miserable were 
the men at Valley Forge, he easily could have stormed their 
trenches and wiped out the army. But luckily he did not take 
trouble enough to find out. When someone said to Benjamin 
Franklin, over in France, “Howe has taken Philadelphia,” 
Franklin laughed and answered, “No, it is Philadelphia that 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


51 


has taken Howe.” It was so; for Howe, while loitering in 
the city, threw away a golden opportunity to crush the 
patriot army. 

Joy came to Valley Forge in May. Franklin’s influence 
with the French Government, added to the news that the 
English general Burgoyne had surrendered at Saratoga, made 
France decide to join the United States in the war. When 
the news arrived that France was our ally, Washington drew 
up his men in parade; they fired salutes with cannon, then 
with muskets, and they cheered for France and America. It 
was the dawn of a brighter day for the patriots. We have not 
forgotten France’s help. 

The British general now received orders from England 
that he was to leave Philadelphia and take his troops back to 
New York. An English army of twenty thousand men had 
been cooped up in the Quaker City all winter and spring by a 
much weaker American force, and nothing good for the 
English had come from simply holding Philadelphia. In June 
the British soldiers began to cross the Delaware. Before the 
last of the English had passed out of the city the American 
troopers rode in. Washington chased the British across New 
Jersey, and they never got hold of Philadelphia again. 

The War in the South. Yorktown. —The war now passed 
mostly to the Southern states, where General Greene bravely 
fought the enemy. For four years, first the English and then 
the Americans seemed winning. At last Lord Cornwallis, the 
British general, was shut up at Yorktown, in Virginia, just as 
Howe had been in Boston. This time it was the French 
whose ships were in the harbor, so there was. no getting away 
for Cornwallis. The young French noble nan, Lafayette, 
commanded the American and French troops that penned the 
English in on the land side. Washington quickly marched 
an army from New York to help. 

As Washington’s troops passed through Philadelphia 


52 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


there was. an outburst of joy from the people. The women 
stood at the windows and threw down flowers upon the dusty 
soldiers. “Long live Washington!” shouted the men. “He 
is going to catch Cornwallis in his mousetrap!” As soon as 
he arrived, the combined French and American troops fiercely 
attacked Yorktown. 

In a week Cornwallis had to surrender. As his soldiers 
marched out to lay down their guns, someone put it into the 
heads of the British band to play a tune called “The World 
Turned Upside Down.” America was turned upside down, 
for the English were shaken out of it from Maine to Georgia. 
What a proud day for the great leader, Washington! Did he 
think then that the miseries of Valley Forge had been paid 
for by this Yorktown victory? 

Yorktown was the last great fight of the war, but peace 
between England and America was not made for two years 
more. Finally, in 1783, the last British soldier left the 
United States, and in New York Washington stood among 
his highest officers to bid them farewell. As he thought of 
the many trials and battles in which he and they had been 
comrades, his feelings almost overcame him. All he could 
say to them was, “ With a heart full of love and gratitude, I 
now take my leave of you. I wish that your latter days may 
be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been 
glorious and honorable.” As the officers shook his hand, 
most of them shed tears because they could no longer serve 
under their dear commander. 

To Congress, at Annapolis, Washington said, “I resign 
with satisfaction the appointment I accepted with hesitation.” 
Now he was plain Mr. Washington again, and glad to be so. 
Though only fifty years old, eight years of toil and care in the 
war had made him seem older. Eight years of his life he 
had given to his country without a cent of pay except his bare 
expenses, and he had spent much of his own money beside. 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


53 


But he had made our America a free country. Christmas 
Day of 1783 found him home again for the holiday dinner 
with his wife and family at Mount Vernon, where he hoped 
to stay for the rest of his life. He had had enough of war. 

IV. OUR FIRST PRESIDENT 

At Home Again.—Washington felt that he had earned a 
rest. It was pleasant to be back home on the Potomac. At 
first it seemed strange to Washington to wake in the morning 
and be free from directing an army, but it was a happy feeling. 

To be first in war did not make Washington proud, but 
he did want in some way to be first in peace. His ambition 
was to be the best farmer in America, and he worked hard to 
deserve that name. Rain or shine he rode over his planta- 
; tions every day, a trip of nearly fifteen miles. On these trips 
he never failed, during the pleasant season of the year, to 
I visit a certain field where an old sorrel horse was grazing. 

: “Come, Nelson,” Washington would say, and the old fellow 
would prick up his ears and run to his master. It was the 
; war-horse that had carried Washington at Yorktown. Now 
Nelson was enjoying a never-ending holiday. 

A New Government for America.—But while Wash¬ 
ington enjoyed this holiday on his farm, the business of the 
country was poorly done. The various states were jealous of 
each other, and there was no good central government to keep 
them friendly. There was no President, only a Congress, to 
direct the country, yet Congress had no power to make the 
states do as they were directed. Because the states were not 
united in feeling, the United States was not a nation, only a 
name. Consequently the country was weak and all the 
nations in Europe despised it. “Thirteen states pulling 
against each other,” said Washington, “are sure to bring 
ruin on themselves.” 

At last a convention met in Philadelphia to make a 



54 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


better government. Virginia honored herself by, sending 
Washington to represent her. When he came to the con¬ 
vention the other members made him their presiding officer. 
Wherever he went, he could not escape being put in the chief 
place, for he was thought to be the greatest man in the 



GEORGE WASHINGTON TAKING THE OATH OF OFFICE AT INAUGURATION AS 
THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, NEW YORK, APRIL 30, 1789 

nation. For four months the convention worked, and at last 
framed a Constitution or set of rules for a new government. 

By this Constitution, which we yet have and which we call 
the foundation of our country, there was to be a President. 
He was to see that the laws made by Congress were carried 
out. Who should be President? There was but one man 
who was wanted by the people. Can you guess his name? 
On the last day of April, 1789, Washington stood on the 
balcony of Federal Hall in New York, 4 and swore to defend 

4 Washington’s statue now stands at the spot in Wall Street where 
he took the oath of office. 









GEORGE WASHINGTON 


55 


the new Constitution. He was now President Washington, 
the leader of a new America. 

The office of President was not an easy one to hold. 
Many things had to be settled. The country was poor, yet 
debts must be paid and taxes must be raised. “Shall the new 
Federal 5 Government be strong enough to make a strong 
nation?” was the question. In spite of the terrible ex¬ 
periences which the nation had had with a weak government, 
many people still thought it was dangerous for the govern¬ 
ment to be strong. Washington, with John Adams and 
Alexander Hamilton at his back, stood firmly for a strong 
national government, and his words had much power. 

The Two Capitals.—Congress found it hard to decide 
where the capital of the United States should be. Should it 
be in the North or in the South? Should a city already built 
have the honor, or should it be in a new city? Wisely 
Congress said: “Let us put it between the North and the 
South. Let us lay out a new city on the Potomac, not far 
from Mount Vernon, and let us call the city by the name of 
our great President. We will not let the City of Washington 
belong to any state, but we will put it in a little district of its 
own, the District of Columbia.” 6 

While the new capital was being laid out in the woods, 
Congress selected Philadelphia to be the capital for ten years. 
When the British spent their lazy winter in Philadelphia, 
General Howe lived in the house that the President now occu¬ 
pied. The tables were turned, and Washing ton could lay 

6 Federal means Union. The soldiers of the North in the Civil War 
were often called Federals because they were fighting to preserve the 
Union. 

6 Columbia is only another name for America. The word America 
comes from the name of Amerigo Vespucci or Americus Vespucius. 
Columbia comes from the name of Columbus. 




5G 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


his head in comfort under the roof which had sheltered his 
enemy during the Valley Forge days. 

There was a large front room on the first floor of the 
President’s mansion, and in it Washington had a habit of 
walking up and down after supper while he thought over the 
affairs of the day. One night a little boy who had never 
seen Washington climbed up to get a peep at him through the 
window of this room, but fell and hurt himself. Washington 
heard the youngster crying and sent a servant out to find 
what was the matter. The man came back and told what the 
boy wanted. “Bring him in,” said Washington. When the 
little fellow came, the General patted him on the head. “Did 
you want to see General Washington?” he asked. “Well, 
here I am.” 

“No,” replied the boy, shaking his head. “You are just 
a man. I want to see the President.” 

Washington laughed heartily. He explained to his visitor 
that he was really President and man both. Then he gave 
the boy some nuts and cakes and sent him away happy 
and satisfied. 

Washington’s Second Term.—It needed a real man to be 
President, and Washington was that man. Although he did 
not want the office again he was elected for a second term of 
four years, without a vote against him. The news was 
published only a week before his birthday, so the people of 
Philadelphia celebrated both the election and the birthday at 
the same time. They rang the old Liberty Bell and the bells 
of Christ Church. Cannon were fired fifteen times, one for 
each state of the Union, for now Vermont and Kentucky had 
been added to the Old Thirteen. It was a joyful day. 

But Washington’s second term was not a happy one. 
There was trouble with the British, with the French, and with 
the Indians, and whatever Washington did, some people were 
sure to be displeased. Such bitter things were said about him 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


57 


that he vowed he would rather be in his grave than be 
President. But after all, these were only passing storms. As 
the nation grew stronger each year under his direction, 
people who had criticised and complained felt ashamed 
of themselves. 

When the second term ended, the people wanted to elect 
Washington for the third time, but he refused. Some 
jealous persons had already said that he wished to be king. 
It was a wicked lie, but Washington did not intend that any 
one should think he wanted to be President for life. Since 
Washington refused to take a third term, the people of the 
United States have always respected that idea, and no one 
else has been allowed to be President three times. 

Washington, with a heart full of love for the people of 
this country, wrote for them a Farewell Address which is one 
of the famous papers in our history. Union was his main 
thought. “Let your union and brotherly affection be per¬ 
petual. You should properly estimate the immense value of 
your national union to your happiness,” he wrote. This was 
the greatest advice he could give. 

Mount Vernon Again. —Once more Washington and his 
wife returned to his dear Mount Vernon and took up a quiet 
country life. He was sixty-five, and began to consider him¬ 
self an old man, though he was as active as ever, and rode his 
horse just as well. Before he had enjoyed three years of the 
life he loved, there came the end. 

On a stormy December day Washington rode about as 
usual to oversee his farms, and was out in the bad weather 
for five hours. He took cold, and in the early morning, two 
days later, he began to feel alarmingly ill. Yet he would not 
allow Mrs. Washington to get up and call a servant, for fear 
that she might catch cold. When the doctor came at last, 
no cure was possible. That night Washington died, and his 
body was buried in the family tomb on the slope of the 


58 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Mount Vernon hill, fronting the river. Thousands upon 
thousands of visitors each year pay their respects at the 
tomb of the wonderful leader who “in trial never faltered and 
in success never claimed a reward.” 1 * * * * * 7 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Find out all you can about Mount Vernon. 

2. How were the muskets and cannon of Washington’s day different 

from ours in their loading and firing? 

3. Read the story of Bunker Hill. 

4. Do you think Howe was a good general? Give your reasons. 

5. What makes a city the capital of a country or a state? Is the 

capital always the largest city? 

6. What points in Washington’s character are made plain by the battles 

he fought? 

7. Find some pictures and descriptions of the Hessian troops. 

8. Read the story of Burgoyne and Saratoga. 

9. Was it Lafayette’s or Washington’s mousetrap that caught Corn¬ 

wallis at Yorktown? 

10. Find out what was the trouble with England during Washington’s 

term of office. 

11. Do you think that our Presidents should be allowed to have more 

than two terms? Give reasons for your answer. 

12. Find out all you can about the children in Washington’s family. 

1 On Independence Day, 1918, in the second year of American par¬ 

ticipation in the World War, President Wilson stood upon the gentle 

slopes of Mount Vernon to speak concerning the deep meaning of our 

struggle with Prussianism. “ There must now be settled once for all,” 

said he, “what was settled for America in the great age upon whose 

inspiration we draw today. This is surely a fitting place from which 

calmly to look upon our task, that we may fortify our spirits for its 
accomplishment. From this green hillside we ought to be able to 
conceive anew the purpose that must set men free.” 



THOMAS JEFFERSON 


A LOVER OF FREEDOM 

“Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that 
these people (the negroes) are to be free.”— Jefferson's Autobiography. 

I. THE MONTICELLO PLANTER 

Jefferson’s Boyhood.—At the time when Washington 
married Mrs. Custis, a boy of fifteen, named Thomas 
Jefferson, was living on a plantation in the western part of 
Virginia. Thomas’s father had died the 
year before, and Thomas missed him 
greatly. After her husband’s death 
Mrs. Jefferson allowed Thomas to be 
pretty much his own master. Some boys 
would have been ruined with such free¬ 
dom. Thomas, however, was a sensible 
fellow. 

Mr. Jefferson had been a wonder¬ 
fully strong man. He used to say that 
a person who had a weak body was likely 
to have a poor mind. One of his last 
pieces of advice to Thomas was, “ Keep up outdoor exercise, 
and develop your body in every way.” Thomas became a 
great leader, but he was wise enough to avoid letting books 
interfere with exercise. He roamed the woods as did Patrick 
Henry; he paddled a canoe; he hunted foxes with a good 
horse and a pack of hounds; and he was very fond 
of dancing. 

As his father had left him plenty of money, Thomas 
could afford to do what he liked; but his money did not spoil 
him. He grew up’ to be a tall, healthy young man, and 
almost every one liked him; when he was not reading, he was 

59 



THOMAS JEFFERSON 


60 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


always on the move. People said, “We never heard anybody 
ask so many questions as that young Thomas Jefferson 
does ”; but that is the way to find out things that are 
worth knowing. 

Thomas also loved to play the violin. Some persons said 
he did not play it very well, but he got a great deal of enjoy¬ 
ment out of his fiddle. The story is told that while he was 
away from home the house where he was born was burned. 
When he returned, an old negro servant came to meet him 
with the bad news. “Were my books taken care of ?” asked 
Thomas. “Oh, no, sah,” said the negro. “De books were all 
burned, but anyhow we saved de fiddle.” 

Jefferson Goes to College and Studies Law.—Thomas 
was anxious to get a good education. He owned much land 
and many slaves, so there was no trouble about paying for 
his studies. When he was seventeen he rode off to attend 
William and Mary College at Williamsburg. This college 
Was named after a king and queen of England, and is the 
second oldest college in the United States. It is interesting 
to know that boys today go to the same college that 
Jefferson attended. 

On his way to college Jefferson stopped to pay a visit to 
a friend. At this friend’s home he met Patrick Henry, who 
had passed his law examination only a short time before. 
Patrick was twenty-five years old and Thomas was only 
eighteen. Patrick was poor, while Thomas *was rich and 
had many rich friends. In spite of the difference in age and 
in the amount of money each had to spend, the two young 
men who later helped to make our country great became 
warm friends. Patrick’s flute and Jefferson’s violin often 
made music together. Thomas admired Patrick’s wit and 
his power to make good speeches, but he thought Patrick 
ought to be more careful and industrious. When Patrick 
came to Williamsburg later, on account of law business, he 


THOMAS JEFFERSON 61 

often shared Jefferson's bed because he was too poor to stop 
at the inn. 

When Jefferson graduated from college he too began to 
study law. He “read law” in the office of a friend, because 
there were at that time no law schools in America. In three 
years he finished his studies. Although his voice was weak, 
so that he could not imitate Patrick Henry’s ringing 



THOMAS JEFFERSON AND PATRICK HENRY PLAYING THE VIOLIN AND FLUTE 


speeches, Jefferson was so careful and knew the law so well 
that he soon built up a good practice. 

Jefferson now began to build on his plantation a beautiful 
home for the beautiful girl whom he was about to marry. He 
picked out a high hill near the spot where he was born and 
had the top of the hill leveled off. From this high place 
there was a wonderful view. He could see the Blue Ridge, 
and nearer still the houses of two of his friends, James 
Madison and James Monroe, both of whom afterward 
became Presidents o f the United States. 











62 


OUR COUNTRY'S LEADERS 


The name of the house was Monticello, which in Italian 
means “Little Mountain.” It was the finest house in that 
part of Virginia, and it is standing today. The bricks for 
its foundation were made on the plantation; most of the 
timber of the house came from Jefferson’s woods; and every 
nail was hammered out by Jefferson’s slaves. This shows 
how great plantations usually attended to most of their 
own needs. 

Thomas and Martha Jefferson spent ten years of great 
happiness together at Monticello. Jefferson loved to listen 
to his wife’s melodious singing as she accompanied herself 
on the harpsichord, the old-fashioned kind of piano which 
the people then used. When Congress sent Franklin to 
France, Jefferson was asked to go also. But his wife was ill, 
and he would not travel across the ocean without her. He 
kept the messenger from Congress waiting for several days, 
but Mrs. Jefferson’s health did not improve, so Jefferson 
refused the honor. On her deathbed he promised her that 
he would never marry again; and he kept his word. 

Jefferson and His Slaves.—On the Monticello plantation 
lived many slaves. Jefferson had always been used to seeing 
them about him and having them as servants, but he never 
grew used to the idea that slavery was right. “No man,” 
said Jefferson, “ought to make a slave of another man.” 
Most of the Southern people thought that negroes were only 
property, like cattle and horses, and had no rights of their 
own-. Jefferson knew that negroes were human beings and 
should be treated accordingly. 

Thinking as he did, Jefferson could not fail to treat his 
slaves kindly. He taught them trades so that they might 
support themselves if they ever were set free. At Monticello 
there were half a dozen little shops where the negroes carried 
on carpenter work and blacksmithing, wove cloth, and made 


THOMAS JEFFERSON 


63 


clothing - and furniture. Some of Jefferson’s slaves were 
counted the best workmen in Virginia. 

Although Monticello had plenty of work for the slaves, 
they were never overworked. Most planters whipped their 
negroes whenever anything went wrong, but Jefferson sel¬ 
dom let his overseer lay his lash on a slave’s back. “If a 
negro will not work unless he is whipped,” said Jefferson, 
“he has no business on this plantation. Sell him.” 

Indeed, Jefferson would have been glad to set all his 
negroes free if he could have done it without causing trouble 
to his neighbors who believed in slavery. Sooner or later, 
he thought, the Southern states would regret that they were 
slave states. The Civil War proved that he was right. 

II. THE GREAT POLITICAL WRITER 

Jefferson the Patriot.— -When Patrick Henry made the 
speech in Williamsburg which aroused the Virginians against 
the Stamp Act, Jefferson stood in the door of the hall listen¬ 
ing. He, with Patrick Henry and George Washington, did 
everything possible to get the colonists to resist England. 
With three or four of their friends they met every evening in 
the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg and made their plans. 

Soon Jefferson’s name was placed on England’s list of 
traitors along with that of Samuel Adams, England would 
have been glad to hang the two men beside each other, and 
to make Patrick Henry a third in the company. Jefferson sat 
in old St. John’s Church in Richmond when his friend 
Patrick made his “Liberty or Death” speech, and clapped his 
hands in wild applause. 

The Declaration of Independence.— Virginia now chose 
Jefferson to represent her in the Continental Congress. He 
was thirty-two years old, and there were only two men 
younger than he in Congress; but he had a great deal of 
influence with the other members. Jefferson never became 


64 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


a good speaker. Whenever he tried to raise his voice to a 
loud tone it became hoarse and disagreeable. He was awk¬ 
ward when he tried to express himself with his tongue, but 
with a pen in his hand Jefferson felt perfectly at home. 
Whatever Jefferson wrote was well expressed. 

The next year, when Congress decided to put before the 
Americans a declaration of independence, Jefferson naturally 

was chosen as head of the 
committee to write it. 
Benjamin Franklin and 
John Adams were also on 
the committee, but they 
left the task to Jefferson, 
who worked at the great 
Declaration for more than 
two weeks. He needed to 
be careful, for this paper 
was to be the American 
excuse for separating 
from England, and it 
would be read in every 
country of Europe. 

When Franklin and Adams read what Jefferson had 
written, it pleased them so well that they made only a few 
changes. But Congress debated over the paper for many 
days, while Jefferson fidgeted about in his chair and Franklin 
told him stories to make him feel better. 

When it came time to vote, some of the members still 
were doubtful. Caesar Rodney of Delaware, however, rode 
hard all night from the town of Dover, in order to be sure 
to cast his vote in favor of the Declaration. He had the 
pleasure of seeing the Declaration adopted in triumph. 

Jefferson was glad the debate was ended, even though 
Congress had cut out some things which he had written in 





THOMAS JEFFERSON 


65 


the Declaration against slavery. He had also set down the 
words, “All men are created equal.” Congress liked that 
saying and let it remain. To Jefferson that sentence meant 
just what it said. But Congress decided that white men might 
be created equal to each other, but negroes were not equal 



THE OLD STATE HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA 


to the whites in any way. It would have saved much trouble 
later if Congress had heeded Jefferson’s thought that slavery 
was wrong. 

The Declaration was adopted on Thursday, July 4, 1776. 
The next Monday, a man with a strong voice climbed up at 
noon on a platform in the State House Square and read it to 
the people. Ever since then the people of Philadelphia have 
called the State House Independence Hall, and have called 
the square south of it Independence Square. 

5 







66 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


When the Declaration was read to the people in New 
York City, it excited them so that they rushed to a big lead 
statue of George the Third and pulled the statue down. Then 
they melted it into bullets to fire at the king’s soldiers. The 
people of Rhode Island read the Declaration, and then passed 
a law that any one who prayed in a church for King George 
should pay a fine of a thousand pounds, 

Jefferson the Governor.—The people of Virginia again 
elected Jefferson to Congress when his term was up, but he 



MONTICELLO 


would not stay in Congress any longer. He felt that he was 
needed in his own state. At this time his friend Patrick 
Henry was governor of Virginia. After Henry had been 
governor for three years and could not take the position 
again, the people elected Jefferson. It was a difficult post to 
hold, for the British were pressing the Americans hard. He 
sent men and supplies to General Greene, who was fighting 
the British in the Southern states, and this left Virginia" with¬ 
out many soldiers. 

After a while General Cornwallis got away from Greene 
and marched into Virginia. Before the sun rose one June 
morning a rider came to Monticello, where Jefferson was 
staying, to say that the British were on their way. Jefferson 

*A pound in English money is about five dollars in our money. 






THOMAS JEFFERSON 


67 


did not worry much about that, but ate his breakfast quietly, 
then sent his family to some neighbors and told his servants 
to hide the silver dishes, forks and spoons. He had his 
horse saddled, took his field-glasses, and rode to the top of 
the highest hill in that part of the country, to watch for 
the British. 

Nearly all day Jefferson stayed on the hill, but saw 
nothing to alarm him. In the late afternoon he started for 
home. Soon he found he had dropped something and went 
back to the hill for it. One look from the hill showed him 
the redcoat soldiers around Monticello as thick as bees. It 
was lucky that he did not return. Now he knew his danger. 
He went down the other side of the hill and the British never 
saw him. 

One of the negro servants, however, was not so lucky. 
Caesar and Martin were busy hiding silver when the British 
rode up. Caesar had taken up some boards in the dining-room 
and was putting the silver under the floor. There was no time 
to escape. Down dropped Caesar alongside the silver, and 
Martin put the boards back into place. The British sus¬ 
pected nothing, but faithful Caesar had to stay in his dark 
hiding-place for a day and a half until the soldiers went away. 
It was not pleasant, but Caesar would have been ashamed to 
come out too soon and have his kind master lose his silver. 

Jefferson Against Hamilton. The Two Political Parties. 
—When Washington became President, he asked Jefferson 
to be his Secretary of State. Jefferson’s chief duty in this 
position was to carry on business with foreign countries. 
Washington had four men, Jefferson being one of them, that 
he called his cabinet. They were to help in carrying on the 
Government and were to talk over all the national affairs 
with the President. Alexander Hamilton was another one 
of the cabinet, and held the position of Secretary of 
the Treasury. 


68 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Between Hamilton and Jefferson a bitter quarrel sprang 
up. Hamilton, who had been an army officer in the 
Revolution, believed in a strong government for the nation, 
one that had power to do many things. Jefferson, who had 
never fought, believed that each state should have almost full 
power over its own affairs and that the central government 
should have few things to do. He wanted each state to 
decide for itself what it ought to do. 

Hamilton, if he were living to-day, would probably say 
that Uncle Sam should direct the railroads of this country to 
do certain things. Jefferson would probably say that each 
state ought to have power over the railroads inside that state. 
Thus a railroad which ran through four states might have 
four different sets of laws to respect, each set of laws govern¬ 
ing a certain part of the railroad. 

We now sympathize with Hamilton’s idea of a strong 
nation rather than with Jefferson’s idea of “state rights”; 
but a great body of the Americans of that day sided with 
Jefferson. Two political parties began to grow up. One was 
the Hamilton party, whose men were called the Federalists, 
because they believed in a strong “federal” or “union” nation. 
The other party, that of Jefferson, bore at first the name of 
the Republican party. Its men were very much interested in 
the doings of the French, who had cut off the head of their 
king and set up a republic over which no king should reign. 
Later on the Jefferson men chose to call themselves 
Democrats, because they thought they were the party of the 
“plain people.” 

For twelve years the struggle went on between the 
Federalists and the Democrat-Republicans. John Adams, 
our second President, was a Federalist. But in 1801 the 
Democrats made their leader, Jefferson, President of the 
United States. 


THOMAS JEFFERSON 69 

III. THE FIRST DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT 

A Plain President.—Less than a year before Jefferson 
took the office of President, the capital of the United States 
was moved from Philadelphia to Washington. The change 
was great. The new capital could not be called, even a large 
village, for only a few hundred people lived there. Its 
streets looked like muddy country roads. The new Capitol 
building, where Congress met, was called “a palace in the 



WASHINGTON IN 1800 


woods,” but the palace was not yet finished. Most of the 
members of Congress and other important people had to live 
in Georgetown, several miles away, and travel by coach or 
on horseback over the bad roads to Washington village 
every day. 

Jefferson made it very clear that, though he was leader 
of the nation, he intended to act like one of the “plain people.” 
When Washington and John Adams took the office of 
President, they went to the ceremony in their coaches, drawn 
by six horses, and were followed by many other persons in 
coaches. Jefferson walked from his boarding-house to the 
Capitol building, to take the oath as President. A few friends 
walked with him, and they were escorted by a company of 





70 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


soldiers. It was a simple procession compared with that of 
the President who had gone before him. 

The other Presidents had held receptions on certain days. 
These receptions were only for the society people, and they 
were rather stiff affairs. The “plain people,” if they had 
ever attended, would have felt out of place. Now Jefferson 
set the doors of the White Plouse wide open, saying that he 
would be pleased to see any one at any time, but would have 
no grand receptions. His wife had died long before, and 
his daughter had to be the Lady of the White House. 

The new President was so anxious to make himself seem 
plain that he even dressed in shabby clothes. He often wore 
long pantaloons instead of neat knee-breeches. He did not 
powder his hair, as Washington and Adams did. Although he 
was as tall as Washington had been he did not hold himself so 
well. Many men did not admire the round-shouldered, sandy- 
haired man with the shabby clothes, but they did admit that 
he exercised a wonderful influence over the “plain people.” 

Purchase of Louisiana.—This plain President, however, 
proved to be the man who took the greatest step in making 
America a vast country. When the French were driven out 
of North America in 1763, at the end of the French and 
Indian War, France gave to. Spain all the land which 
England did not seize. This immense piece of land stretched 
from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The 
French had called it Louisiana after their King Louis, and 
the Spaniards kept the French name. New Orleans, near 
the mouth of the Mississippi, was the chief settlement 
in Louisiana. 

The Americans west of the Appalachian Mountains 
needed the Mississippi as a road down which they could float 
their grain, their whiskey and their furs to New Orleans. 
There ships could take these things across the ocean. The 
Westerners feared, however, that the Spaniards would for- 


THOMAS JEFFERSON 


71 


bid them to navigate their flatboats down to New Orleans 
any longer. They threatened to take their rifles and capture 
the city. 

Jefferson did not like war. He thought it would be 
easier and better to buy New Orleans and some of the land 
around it. Finding that Spain had given the Louisiana 
territory back to France, Jefferson sent Robert Livingston 
and James Monroe off to Paris to make the bargain. 
Napoleon, who was then governing France, expected to begin 
war with England. He needed money for his army and 
navy, and he was sure that the English battleships would 
seize New Orleans as soon as war broke out. “Why not sell 
Louisiana? I will lose it anyhow,” thought he. 

Livingston and Monroe felt greatly surprised when 
Napoleon offered them more than they had expected to buy. 
The whole of Louisiana could now belong to the United 
States. Jefferson had not told them just what to do, and 
they had to depend on their own judgment. They were wise 
men, and they bought the territory for fifteen million dollars. 
This was a large sum of money for those days, yet Livingston 
and Monroe had made a wonderfully cheap purchase. At 
one stroke it doubled the size of the United States. 

Trouble with Foreign Nations. The Embargo.—“If 
nations were sensible, there would be no war,” said Jefferson. 
Military glory did not seem to him the highest glory. He 
knew that the United States was very weak compared to some 
of the European nations, and that we had little money to 
spare for Government expenses. Therefore, Jefferson’s two 
great ideas as President were to keep down the expense of 
national affairs and to keep out of war. He tried to get 
along with a tiny navy and army; but while this cut down 
expenses, it also emboldened other nations to interfere with 
our rights. 


7 2 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Much of America’s wealth at this time came from com¬ 
merce. Our fast ships sailed all over the world and made 
large profits for their owners. France and England were at 
war, so each needed great amounts of supplies, which the 
Americans were glad to furnish; but soon both nations began 
to interfere with our ships and our sailors. “Aha!” said 
Jefferson. “I will make you sorry without fighting you.” 

The President now ordered every ship to stay at home, to 
go on no more voyages to Europe. He thought that France 
and England would miss the American cargoes so much that 
they would apologize to the United States and interfere no 
more with our commerce. But though the “embargo,” as the 
stoppage of trade with Europe was called, hurt France and 
England, it hurt the United States more. The sailors, the 
merchants, the shipyard workers, the sailmakers, the rope- 
makers, all suffered, and many others suffered with them. 
We had “cut off our noses to spite our faces.” Jefferson’s 
peaceful plan had failed to make us respected and had angered 
a large part of the people. 

Last Years at Monticello.—Jefferson had now spent two 
terms, oi^ eight years, as President. Perhaps he might have 
had a third term, but he would not try for it, for that was 
against his principles. He came back to Monticello with joy, 
for he loved farming as much as did Washington. But he 
found himself poor. His expenses while he had been serving 
the nation had exceeded his salary. Now crowds of people 
visited the famous ex-President at his home and expected to 
be entertained free. Often fifty beds were spread at night in 
Monticello. Jefferson’s visitors actually ate up the little 
money he had left, yet he tried to be generous and pleasant 
to the troublesome swarm. 

At last the old man could do no more. He gave his plan¬ 
tations over to the management of his nephew, and to pay 
off his debts he decided to sell the fine library he had been 


THOMAS JEFFERSON 


73 


collecting for fifty years. This grieved him very much, for 
next to his children he loved his books. Friends in other 
states contributed money to help him, but even this aid did not 
bring enough to make him even with the world. It was time 
for him to leave this life. Fie was now eighty-three, and it 
seemed very sad that such a famous man should be bowed 
down with debt in his last years. 

Curiously enough, it was on the fourth of July, when we 
celebrate our Declaration of Independence, that he died. 
After his death the furnishings of Monticello were sold at 
auction and his daughter had, to part with the house. Fortu¬ 
nately, those who own it now take a pride in preserving it as 
a memorial of one of our most famous Presidents. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Give as many names as possible of colleges or universities which 

great men or women have attended. 

2. Find out some more facts about the fine house and plantation at 

Monticello. 

3. Do you think Jefferson should have set his slaves free? Give your 

reasons. 

4. Find out about the wife of another President who had to leave her 

home to escape the British soldiers. 

5. We call the Fourth of July Independence Day. Is there any other 

date that would be as proper? 

6. Does our Government now act according to Hamilton’s ideas or 

according to Jefferson’s? 

7. Find a map of the Louisiana Purchase. What states are now con¬ 

tained in that tract of land? 


JOHN PAUL JONES 


THE SAILOR WHO TERRIFIED ENGLAND 

“ It is my pride and glory that I was one of the first who endeavored 
to defend on the sea America’s just rights .”—Letter to Congress. 

The Scotch Sailor Boy.—At the time# when Thomas 
Jefferson was a boy in Virginia, another little boy, named 
John Paul, was living near the shores of a large bay in 
Scotland. From his home John Paul could look out over the 
blue water dotted with, the sails, of ships 
and fishing-boats. In his heart grew up 
a great love for a sailor’s life. At every 
chance he stole away from home to a 
nearby town and listened to the stories 
which the old salts told. Many of these 
tales were about America, and John Paul 
thought he would like to visit that won¬ 
derful country across the ocean. 

At the age of twelve John got his 
chance to visit America as a cabin-boy on 
one of the vessels from his home town. 
For the next fourteen years John Paul spent almost his whole 
time on the ocean. He grew up to be a fine-looking fellow 
of medium height but great strength. He would do and dare 
anything for a good cause. Few men cared to face him 
when his anger was roused. The slacker and the coward had 
a hard time with John Paul. John spent his spare time in 
studying, for he knew that in order to make a success, he 
must keep on with his education. He learned everything that 
he could possibly learn about ships. Not many young men 
were such good sailors as was John Paul. 

74 



JOHN PAUL JONES 


75 


The Young Captain’s Misfortune.— At last John Paul 
managed to borrow from Scotch merchants money enough 
to buy a vessel and some goods with which to trade with the 
West Indies. How proud he was to be called captain! He 
expected to make fine profits, but he was bitterly disappointed. 
On his very first trip for himself some of his sailors refused 
to obey orders. In the struggle which followed John Paul 
by accident killed the ringleader. In order to avoid trouble 
with the sailor’s friends, John Paul was advised to go to 
America and wait until the storm blew over. 

He made his way to North Carolina, where for many 
months he hid himself away in a little town. He had not 
much money, he found nothing to do, and did not even dare 
to tell his true name for fear of being arrested. This was 
just before the Revolution, when Samuel Adams, Patrick 
Henry, Washington and Jefferson were meeting in Congress. 
Probably John Paul felt too miserable to trouble himself 
much about political matters. He had lost his ship and his 
business, and the future seemed very dark. 

John Paul Becomes John Paul Jones. —One day Mr. 
Jones, a rich man who lived in the neighborhood, happened 
to see John Paul as he sat mournfully on a bench at the inn 
door. “What is your name?” he asked. “I have none,” 
was the answer. “Where is your home?” he asked again. 
“I have no home,” sadly replied the young man. John 
Paul’s gentlemanly look and manner struck the fancy of Mr. 
Jones. “Come home with me,” said he. 

For several months the young captain lived in Mr. 
Jones’s house. Mr. Jones was a leading patriot, and John 
Paul began to take a deep interest in the success of the 
Americans. Mr. Jones introduced him to one of the members 
of Congress, who also became a warm friend. When 
Congress, after the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill, 
decided to have a Continental navy as well as a Continental 


76 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


army, John Paul’s friend in Congress got him an appoint¬ 
ment as lieutenant. 

John now said good-bye to Mr. Jones, who had been so 
kind and generous. “I want to give you some money for 
your expenses,” said Mr. Jones, “No,” answered John 
Paul, “I cannot take it. But if you will let me use your name, 
I will promise to make you proud you have done so.” From 
that day he signed himself J. P. Jones or John P. Jones, 
and, later on, Paul Jones. 

The Continental Sea-Captain.—Soon Jones proved him¬ 
self so active and daring that he was made captain of a war 
vessel. Robert Morris, who was looking aftey the naval 
affairs at that time, wished to give him command of the 
whole navy, but the jealousy of other people prevented that. 
At last, in the Ranger, Captain Jones was sent to France to 
carry out the plans of Benjamin Franklin, who was there in 
charge of American business. 

Franklin sent the captain to attack the shores of England, 
for now that country was to get a dose of her own medicine. 
Paul Jones sailed from place to place as though he owned the 
ocean. He captured vessels and sent them to France, kept 
their crews prisoners, attacked forts, and scared the people 
nearly to death. Though he was a regular Continental 
officer, the English now called Paul Jones a pirate. Foolish 
English mothers told their troublesome children, “If you are 
bad, Paul Jones will get you.” 

France now promised to help the United States in the war, 
and Paul Jones was told that he would be given command of 
one of the finest French warships. He let the Ranger sail 
back to America without him. But he waited long for the 
promised French ship. He wrote many letters to the officers 
of the French Government, but that did no good. 

One day Jones picked up Franklin’s proverbs of Poor 
Richard, and read, “If you wish your business done go your- 


JOHN PAUL JONES 


77 


self; if not send some one else.” “That’s true,” cried Jones. 
He went to Paris, saw the French officers, and was given a 
ship. In thanks for Franklin’s good advice, he changed the 
ship’s name to the Bonhomme Richard, which is the French 
way of saying “Poor Richard.” 

The Fight with the Serapis.—The Bonhomme Richard 
was a poor ship after all. She sailed slowly; her timbers 
were rotten with age; her guns were so old that it was unsafe 
to fire them. The crew was as strange a collection as ever 
a warship held. There were French and English and 
Portuguese, fair-haired Swedes and brown-skinned Malays, 
and only a few Americans to back up Paul Jones. But 
Captain Jones took along a few other ships to help him and 
made a straight line for the coast of England. 

Again he threw England into excitement and fear. The 
English called out their troops, repaired their forts, sent more 
war vessels to sea, all on account of the “pirate,” Paul Jones. 
At last one evening the Bonhomme Richard , with two other 
ships, met two British war vessels. The larger of the English 
ships was called the Serapis. The Bonhomme Richard and 
the Serapis attacked each other, while one of Paul Jones’s 
smaller ships fought the other English vessel. The third 
ship of Paul Jones’s fleet was commanded by a crazy French 
captain, and stood off from the fight. 

The Serapis was a fine ship, with many cannon and a 
picked crew. She had the advantage over her American foe 
in every point except one—Paul Jones was not her com¬ 
mander. The two vessels were so near the English coast that 
thousands of the people crowded down to the shore in the long 
September twilight to watch the battle. 

At the first broadside some of the old American cannon 
blew up and killed nearly all the men who were working them. 
Many captains would have given up then, but not so with Paul 
Tones. After an hour of furious cannonading the Bonhomme 


78 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Richard was in a terrible condition. She was knocked to 
pieces by the heavy guns of the Serapis. Many of her men 
lay dead and wounded on her deck, and only a few of her 
guns could be used. But the American spirit of Paul Jones 
refused to be discouraged. 

The ships now crashed together and Paul Jones with his 
own hands lashed them fast. He helped his men drag cannon 



AN OLD-TIME SEA FIGHT 

across the deck; he cheered on the trembling French marines 
and put his brave spirit into them; he seemed in several places 
at once. Some of his officers cried “Quarter,” meaning sur¬ 
render. “Have you surrendered?” shouted the English 
captain. Back roared the great voice of Paul Jones, “ I have 
not yet begun to fight.” 

It was a strange battle. The cannon of the Serapis drove 
the American crew up on deck, and the muskets and hand- 
grenades of the Americans drove the British down below. 
Captain Pearson of the Serapis stood almost alone upon his 





JOHN PAUL JONES 


79 


deck. Both ships took fire in a dozen places—timbers, masts, 
sails and rigging—and the fighting stopped a while as the 
sailors tried to put out the blaze. 

The battle began again. Now appeared the ship of the 
French captain who had kept away. In the moonlight he 
sailed around the burning ships that were locked together, but 
fired full into the ship of Paul Jones. He wanted the 
Bonhomme Richard to sink SO' that he could capture the dis¬ 
abled Sera pis and get the credit. Again he circled the ships 
and fired into his own friends, then sailed away and gave 
no help. 

Water poured into the Bonhomme Richard and two 
hundred English prisoners, released from their imprisonment 
in the hold, rushed up from below. “The ship sinks!” they 
cried. If they had thought of it, they could have captured 
the American ship in a moment. Jones gave them no time 
to think. “Go pump!” he ordered. “It is the Serapis that 
is sinking.” They obeyed, and so against their intention 
helped the Americans. “Captain, strike your flag,” one of 
the officers begged of Paul Jones. “No, I will sink first,” 
was the answer. 

A great explosion on the Serapis settled the matter. 
Captain Pearson, alone on his deck, pulled down the British 
flag with his own hand. It had been as desperate a fight 
as the ocean ever saw. Jones’s men went aboard the Serapis, 
and the shattered Bonhomme Richard sank soon after, the 
Stars and Stripes still flying above her. Perhaps it is the 
only case in which a vessel that sank captured the ship that 
sank her. When Paul Jones returned to France, King Louis 
gave him a magnificent gold-handled sword. Washington 
later wrote to him, “You have attracted the admiration of 
all the world.” 

Last Years of Paul Jones.—Although Paul Jones returned 
to America after a time, one unfortunate circumstance after 


80 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


another prevented him from having further chance to show 
his ability. At the close of the war he was invited to Russia, 
there was made admiral, and fought with credit against the 
Turks. The cold of Russia affected his lungs, and he never 
recovered from the trouble. He died in Paris, and was 
buried in a humble grave, whose location was soon forgotten. 
More than a hundred years later a search was made, and the 
body was discovered. With proper honor it was sent to 
America, escorted by a fleet of our war vessels. It rests in 
the chapel of the Naval Academy at Annapolis. The young 
men who study there to become officers of our battleships 
constantly see this tomb and are led to take«example from a 
man whose bravery could not be surpassed. 1 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. What were the first deeds of our American Navy? 

2. The full story of the fight of the Bonhomme Richard is long but 

thrilling. Read it. 

3. Make acquaintance with Paul Jones and Long Tom Coffin in Cooper’s 

novel, The Pilot. 

4. What can you find out about our Naval Academy at Annapolis? 

“ The town must be taken at all events .”—Speech to his men at 
because he was the first to recommend that Congress should establish 
such a school. 



GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 


A FRONTIER FIGHTER 

“ The town must be taken at all events .”—Speech to his men at 
Kaskaskia. 

Indian Danger from the “Northwest Country.”—While 
the first battles of the Revolution were being fought, Daniel 
Boone and his comrades were taking possession of the 
beautiful but wild Kentucky country. Bold as they were, 
however, they found it hard to defend 
themselves against the raids of the fierce 
savages from north of the Ohio River. 

It seemed at times as though every Ken¬ 
tucky settlement would be wiped out. 

The Indians were encouraged to at¬ 
tack the settlers by Colonel Hamilton, the 
British officer who had charge of all the 
“ Northwest Country.” This tract of 
land lay between the Appalachians, the 
Ohio, the Mississippi and the Great 
Lakes. Although England had owned GE ° R clark GERS 
it ever since the close of the French and 
Indian War, its white settlers were almost all French. Each 
of the few French villages had its English fort to protect 
it, but the war had called away most of the British soldiers 
to fight nearer the Atlantic. 

Among the settlers of Kentucky there was one man who 
saw that to kill a poisonous plant a person should strike at 
its root. He knew that the root of the Indian trouble lay in 
the “Northwest Country.” If that region could be conquered 
by the Americans, the British would no longer stir up the 
fierce Indians, Kentucky would be safe, and the United States 



82 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


would gain a great deal of valuable land. The man who 
decided to strike at that root of trouble was George 
Rogers Clark. 

Clark and His Plan.—We always think of Kentucky as 
a state, but at that time it was only a county of the great state 
of Virginia. Clark was a Virginian. Though only twenty- 
five years old when he thought of his plan, he had made a 
name for himself. From childhood he had been a rover in 
the woods. While still a boy he had fought against the 
Indians, and later on he had battled often with the Indians 
in Kentucky. Clark was a true backwoodsman, and could 
hold his own anywhere. He was six feet tall, and strong in 
proportion. His red hair and snapping black eyes marked 
him as a person of quick temper but great energy. 

Clark said not a word to any one about his fine plan. If 
the British heard anything about it they would send so many 
troops to hold the forts that driving them out would be 
impossible. Clark sent two young hunters up into what is 
now the state of Illinois, to see what they could see. They 
brought back word that the French of that part of the country 
did not care much whether the British or Americans won, 
but that the French had heard such tales about the American 
hunters that they feared the backwoodsmen. 

Few men could be spared from Kentucky to go on such 
an adventure as Clark had planned. Clark, therefore, started 
out on horseback from Kentucky to Williamsburg, to get help 
from Patrick Henry, who was then governor of Virginia. 
Passing by Monticello, he arrived safely at his father’s house. 
There he heard of Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga, and it 
gave himj fresh courage to carry out his idea. 

Patrick Henry thought Clark’s idea excellent, and so did 
Thomas Jefferson. Clark was made a colonel. Virginia 
could not do much to help him, for the people had already 


GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 


83 


given freely to the war; but he was permitted to raise men. 
The burden of the whole affair rested on his shoulders. 

Capture of Kaskaskia and Vincennes.—At last with one 
hundred and fifty men, volunteer backwoodsmen, and some 
pioneer families, Clark’s flatboats drifted slowly down' the 
Ohio. Between Indiana and Kentucky, where the river 



ROUTE TAKEN BY GEORGE ROGERS CLARK IN THE CAMPAIGN BY WHICH HE 
SECURED THE NORTHWEST FROM THE BRITISH 


breaks into rapids, Clark put up a fort, and left there the 
settlers and their families, with a few men to guard them. 
While building this fort he heard the news that King Louis 
of France had decided to help the Americans. Soon the 
settlement at the Falls of the Ohio came to be called 
Louisville. Today it is the largest city of Kentucky. 

From Louisville, Clark crossed the river, and landed on 
Illinois soil. The southern part of Illinois has the Wabash 
River on the east, the Ohio on the south, and the Mississippi 
on the west. The two most important British forts were 








84 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


at Kaskaskia on the Mississippi and Vincennes on the 
Wabash. Clark directed his march first toward Kaskaskia. 

On July 4, 1778, the Americans reached the town. They 
hid in the woods until night, then crept up to the fort. Not 
a single soldier was there. At Clark’s signal they yelled like 
mad and rushed into the fort, then through the streets of 
Kaskaskia. The town was captured without the firing of a 
gun. The terrified French inhabitants wondered what the 
American “ Long Knives ” would do, but Clark treated them 
so well that they all took an oath to be good American citizens. 

The French priest of Kaskaskia saw how fairly Clark 
behaved toward his people. He volunteered to go to 
Vincennes where only a few British soldiers kept guard. Off 
the priest started. He gathered the French together in the 
Vincennes church and told them that it was right for them to 
be American citizens rather than to obey the British. When 
he had finished, the people hoisted the American flag, and the 
little band of English soldiers wisely marched out of the 
town. It was an easy victory. 

Clark’s Wonderful March.—The American Colonel Clark 
so far had had matters all his own way; but the English 
Colonel Hamilton of Detroit intended to have a word to 
say about that. He gathered together a strong force of 
soldiers and Indians and marched to Vincennes. As Clark 
had not been able to put a strong garrison there, Hamilton 
captured it without difficulty. If Hamilton had now pushed 
on he could have made prisoners of Clark and his men, and 
that would have put an end to the American idea of holding 
the country. Winter had come, however, and Hamilton 
decided to wait until spring. 

Hamilton did not know what a man he had to deal with. 
Clark found out that most of the soldiers and Indians had 
been sent back to Detroit. “Now is my time,*’ thought he. 
With one hundred and seventy-five men, French and Ameri- 


GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 


85 


cans, he marched off one February day to call on Colonel 
Hamilton. Fortunately for Clark, his men did not know 
beforehand what a terrible march it would prove to- be. 

The distance was about two hundred and fifty miles. The 
ice was melting and the flat Illinois prairies were flooded with 
chilly water. Clark’s men had no tents and in that wild 
country no houses for shelter could be found. For a week 
they trudged along in mud and water, but at night they built 
great camp-fires and ate the meat of deer and bear, elk and 
buffalo, which their hunters had killed. 

Now came the trial. They arrived near Vincennes, but 
found the “drowned lands” of the Wabash before them. 
Five miles of running ice-water, not less than three feet deep, 
must be crossed. It took them three days to build a boat and 
cross the torrent. Still the country on the other side was not 
much better. For several days, in the pouring rain, they 
waded breast-high through the flood. At night they found 
some hillock barely above the water and in cold and misery 
passed the hours of darkness. 

Capture of Vincennes.— For eight days these men of iron 
plowed on. At last there was no food, yet still they advanced. 
The last night of their march they found themselves within 
six miles of Vincennes. It was bitter cold. When morning 
came, half an inch of ice surrounded the island on which 
they had slept, and their clothes were frozen stiff. But the 
sun shone, and gave them new courage. “Tonight we shall 
be within touch of the enemy,” said the lion-hearted 
commander. “Forward!” 

There was a sheet of water four miles wide to cross. 
Clark and his tallest, strongest men led the way. Soon the 
weaker men, half-starved and half-frozen, began to fall 
down in the flood. They clung to their more powerful com¬ 
rades and all at last reached the shore. Many fell flat and 
powerless at the water’s edge and had to be run up and down 


86 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


between two strong riflemen before their blood could be made 
to flow freely again. The party made fires, and secured some 
food from Indians who passed in a canoe. They dried off 
in the sun and by the fire. The food put new life into their 
veins. Now they were ready to attack Hamilton. 

After sundown Clark and his men entered the town. 
These ragged and starved backwoodsmen, with no cannon, 



no bayonets, almost no powder, were going to attack a strong 
fort that had artillery and plenty of other arms. As the 
Americans marched in, Hamilton’s Indians all ran out. They 
had no desire to stay near men who could apparently walk 
under the water or on it. Many of the French inhabitants, 
however, were glad to see the riflemen, and handed out to 
them fresh ammunition. 

In the moonlight Clark’s party began to fire at the fort. 
The cannon of the fort roared in answer, but the bordermen 
hid themselves so well that they suffered no harm. In return 
the American rifles shot so truly at the portholes out of which 









GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 


87 


looked the cannon, that soon Hamilton’s men would not work 
the guns any longer. At last the English commander saw 
that further resistance was useless. Vincennes was ours. As 
the American flag went up over the fort, Clark renamed 
it—Fort Patrick Henry. 

The Northwest Territory.—This was the end of British 
power near the Ohio. Clark wished to march and drive the 
English out of their stronghold, Detroit, but that was never 
done. Virginia, however, laid claim to all the “northwest 
country” and called it the county of Illinois of the state of 
Virginia. Many of Clark’s men settled on the land in this 
region. At the end of the Revolutionary War England gave 
up all claims, and this fertile country was open for our use. 
Virginia generously handed it over to the National Govern¬ 
ment, and it was called the Northwest Territory. Now it 
contains five of our most prosperous states. Chicago, 
Cleveland, Detroit, and many another fine city stand today 
as monuments to the memory of the desperate march and 
wonderful bravery of George Rogers Clark. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Describe the dress and equipment of the Virginia and Kentucky 

backwoodsmen in the time of Colonel Clark. 

2. A fall or rapid in a stream is a natural place for a settlement to 

grow up. Why? Name several cities that have grown up on this 
account. 

3. Do .you think regular Continental troops could have made the march 

that Clark’s men performed? Give the reasons for your answer. 

4. Which do you choose as your hero, George Rogers Clark or Paul 

Jones? Why? 

5. Draw the map of the states that were made out of the Northwest 

Territory. Show by a dotted line the march on which Clark’s 
men suffered so much. 


ALEXANDER HAMILTON 


SOLDIER AND FINANCIER 

“ It is not in my temper to repine at evils that are past, but to 
endeavor to draw good out of them .”—Letter to Elizabeth Schuyler. 

I. THE STUDENT TURNS SOLDIER 

The West India Boy.— In the beautiful tropical English 
island of Nevis, where the air is soft and warm, and where 
palms and sugar-cane grow, lived a poor boy—Alexander 
Hamilton. There is an idea that the 
bodies and minds of white men become 
very lazy in tropical lands, but such was 
not the case with Hamilton. It would 
have been hard to find any one of the 
same age in the whole West Indies who 
was Alexander’s equal in cleverness or 
in power to stick to a thing until it was 
done well. 

When Alexander was about twelve 
years old his mother died and he was 
sent to relatives in a nearby island. That 
island was Santa Cruz, one of the Virgin Islands which we 
bought from Denmark (1917). At the end of a year he was 
put into the “ countinghouse ” or office of a merchant. In a 
year more his employer was able to go away for weeks at a 
time and leave the whole care of the business in Alexander’s 
hands. That was a remarkable trust to put into the direction 
of a fourteen-year-old boy. 

Imagine this lad being allowed to receive valuable im¬ 
ported goods, to sell them at the best price he could get, and 

88 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 


ALEXANDER HAMILTON 


89 


to see that the vessel which brought them was loaded with a 
return cargo! Many men could not have done so well as 
this little fellow. Yet Alexander did not like the life of a 
merchant. It was not active and stirring enough for him. 
“I have a great ambition,” he said. 

The Story of the Hurricane.—One day a furious hurri¬ 
cane swept over the island. Nothing like its force had been 
known for many years. It killed persons and animals, 
wrecked houses and destroyed crops. A few days later, as 
the governor of Santa Cruz unfolded his newspaper, he saw 
an account of the fearful storm. As he read it, he thought, 
“That is so well expressed, I wonder who wrote it!” Upon 
inquiring at the newspaper office, he found that the author 
was young Alexander Hamilton. 

The governor sent for Alexander. He saw a slender boy 
of middle height, with handsome features, rosy cheeks and 
bright, sparkling blue eyes. Alexander’s way of behaving 
was as attractive as his looks. “What would you most like 
to do?” asked the governor. “To go to college,” replied 
Alexander, “I want a good education.” “You shall have 
it,” the governor replied. He raised money among his 
friends and sent Alexander off to the American colonies to 
get the education so desired. 

Student and Patriot.—For a year Alexander worked hard 
to prepare to enter college. When Alexander was ready for 
college, he entered King’s College in New York City. It is 
now called Columbia University and is a wonderfully attrac¬ 
tive place for students. A bright fellow like Hamilton was 
warmly welcomed at King’s College. He was allowed to go 
ahead just as fast as he liked, and he often passed the exami¬ 
nation,on the year’s work of a class before the other students 
in the class had half finished. Yet he found time to attend 
a debating club, where he was one of the best speakers. 


90 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Those were stirring times. The hurricane of the Rev¬ 
olution had been threatening for nearly ten years, and now 
it was coming fast. It was just about the time of the Phila¬ 
delphia and Boston tea-parties that Hamilton entered college, 
and many of the other students thought more about politics 
than about their lessons. Not so with Alexander. He was 
almost a foreigner to the colonies, and for a while he took 
little interest in their affairs. 

In the spring after the Tea-Party, however, Hamilton 
made a visit to Boston. He could not help hearing a great 
deal about the troubles with England and the rights of the 
Americans. Now he began to study these matters, and he 
did it thoroughly, because that was his habit. As he debated 
the questions with himself and talked to his friends, he grew 
sure that the Americans had the best arguments on their side. 

When the colonies were asked to send representatives to 
a Congress, there was a great public meeting in New York 
City. Several noted speakers addressed the immense crowd. 
Hamilton stood in the crowd and listened. But the speakers 
did not mention a number of things that Alexander thought 
should be said. At last he could hold back no longer. He 
pushed his way to the platform and began to speak. “What 
little fellow is this?” laughed the people as they looked at the 
slender seventeen-year-old Alexander. They paid attention 
to him just the same, for they could not help it, and when he 
finished, there was a shout of applause. 

Captain Hamilton.—After this Hamilton became very 
active in the patriotic cause. He wrote political articles for 
the newspapers. “These are finely expressed,” said some of 
the Tory party, and they offered Alexander good pay if he 
would write in favor of King George’s ideas. As he was 
now American through and through, their offers were 
refused with scorn. 


ALEXANDER HAMILTON 


91 


Then Hamilton joined a volunteer company of young 
men, who called themselves “Hearts of Oak.” They wore 
green uniforms and had upon their leather caps the motto, 
“Freedom or Death.” But Hamilton was not satisfied with 
drilling. He found an old soldier who knew a great deal 
about artillery, and learned all that the soldier could teach 
him. Then he bought books on the subject and studied 



them. Presently he became captain of an artillery company 
raised in the city, and that was the end of his college studies. 

Drill, drill, drill, was Hamilton’s idea. “Do it better 
yet,” was his watchword. His company constantly improved. 
One day while the company was drilling with its guns in the 
fields, General Greene rode by. “What fine work!” he 
thought, and he made himself known to Hamilton. Like 
most others, Greene took a fancy to the boyish captain. He 
spoke of Hamilton to General Washington, who invited 
Hamilton to join the army. 



92 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 
II. THE SOLDIER TURNS STATESMAN 


An Aide to Washington.—Hamilton and his cannon 
served the country well. In the retreat from Long Island 
he was one of the last to leave the shore. At Trenton it 
was Hamilton’s guns that fired along the main street and 
showed the Hessians they must surrender. When the 
Continental army went into camp for the winter at Morris¬ 
town, New Jersey, Hamilton was there. 

As Washington was riding around the Morristown camp 
inspecting, he noticed some earthworks that were made with 
special skill. “Who built these?” he asked. “Captain 
Hamilton,” was the answer. Washington remembered 
Greene’s praise of Hamilton. He requested the captain to 
become a member of his own staff. Hamilton came to live 
at Washington’s headquarters. He wrote letters for the 
General, carried messages, took part in councils of war, and 
went on important errands of peace and war. 

This young officer, only twenty, soon took a high place in 
Washington’s heart. Washington was inclined to be grave 
and serious. Hamilton’s French blood made him naturally 
cheerful. His bright nature many a time drove away the 
clouds of care that gathered over the mind of the commander- 
in-chief. Hamilton’s mind, moreover, was so keen that he 
was consulted about many important affairs. 

For four years Hamilton accompanied Washington 
wherever headquarters might be. Then he grew tired of 
being away from the regular service with the troops in the 
field, resigned his position, and went back to the army. At 
Yorktown he led the troops which attacked one side of the 
entrenchments of Cornwallis. Dashing forward at the head 
of his men, he sprang into the ditch and clambered up the 
wall. His soldiers followed closely with bayonets fixed. In 


ALEXANDER HAMILTON 


93 


ten minutes from the time the Americans reached the 
entrenchment it was theirs, and the bayonet had done it all. 

Hamilton’s Marriage.—In thus leading the charge on the 
British camp, Hamilton was fighting for his own home and 
family as well as for his country. About four years before, 
Washington had sent Hamilton on an important errand to 
General Gates, who was commanding troops at Albany. 
While in the camp of Gates, Hamilton met General Schuyler, 
who had commanded the army before Gates arrived. General 
Schuyler’s home was in Albany, and he was a man of wealth. 

At the Schuyler mansion Hamilton became acquainted 
with one of the daughters of the house, Elizabeth, a charming 
girl of quiet disposition and good temper; and two years 
later they were married. Mrs. Hamilton would have been 
alarmed had she known her husband was exposing himself to 
be killed at Yorktown; but after Yorktown there was little 
for the American army to do. Hamilton had a wife and 
child to support. He felt that he was no longer needed in 
the army, and his pay was very small, so he resigned in order 
to study law. 

Lawyer Hamilton in Congress.—General Schuyler 
offered Hamilton as much money as he wanted, but 
Hamilton would not accept it. “I intend to stand on my 
own feet,” said he. In four months after he began his law 
studies he was admitted to practice as a lawyer. His time of 
preparation was not nearly so short as Patrick Henry’s. He 
had scarcely begun his work as a lawyer, however, when the 
people of New York sent him to Philadelphia to represent 
them in Congress. 

In Congress the eternal question was money. The 
treasury vaults held no cash; the soldiers got no pay; the 
farmer or merchant who sold goods to the nation might 
whistle for the price. Why did this condition exist? Because 
Congress had no power to make the people pay money to the 


94 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 



Government or do anything else that they did not want to do. 
Congress was supposed to get things done by asking the states 
to look after matters. If any state did not wish to do what 
Congress asked, Congress was helpless. 

Under such conditions Congress became a joke. Few 
men of brains wished to throw their time away by being 
members of Congress. Often there were several of the 


INTERIOR OF INDEPENDENCE HALL 

thirteen states that had no one at all to represent them in 
Congress. Many of the members that did come to Congress 
took their own time about arriving. While the army had 
been fighting, the great danger of being defeated made the 
states pay attention to the messages from Congress. Now 
that the fighting had stopped (though peace was not yet 
declared), each state did what it thought best. After one 
winter’s experience in Congress, Hamilton gladly went back 
to his practice of law. 

Making Our Constitution.—At last, partly through 
Hamilton’s influence, a convention was held in Independence 





















ALEXANDER HAMILTON 


95 


Hall, Philadelphia, to make a new plan of government in 
place of the old miserable scheme which had brought such 
poor results. New York state sent Hamilton as one of the 
three men who were her representatives. Deep in Hamilton’s 
mind was the remembrance of the weak and ridiculous 
Congress in which he had sat a few years before. “Let us 
have a strong United States government!” was his cry. 
“Give the Government power!” 

The enemies of Hamilton said: “You are trying to do 
away with the separate states. In a little while there will be 
no Pennsylvania, no Virginia, no Massachusetts left. There 
will be only a nation.” They did not see that if the United 
States was to be strong and prosperous the nation must be 
first and the state second. On our coins today we put the 
national motto in Latin, “E Pluribus Unum,” meaning that 
out of many states we have made one great nation, of which 
we are proud. We fought the bitter Civil War before all 
our people believed that the nation came before the state, but 
we believe it now with all our hearts. That was Hamilton’s 
belief in 1787. 

Our Constitution was at last made. It did give Congress 
power to do many things without having to wait on the 
slow motions of the states. But the Constitution now 
had to be accepted by the various states. New York 
was one of the most important states in the Union, and it 
did not look as though New York would accept the new plan 
of government. Would New York stay outside the Union? 
“Not if I can help it,” said Hamilton. 

Hamilton led the party which wanted the Constitution. 
He argued, he coaxed, he wrote newspaper articles, he sent 
letters to his friends. At last he was successful. New York 
went into the new and stronger Union. Then New York 
City held a great parade. In it the pictures of Washington 
and Hamilton appeared side by side. There was a banner 


96 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


showing Hamilton holding the Constitution, as a scroll of 
paper, in his hand, while Fame crowned him with a laurel 
wreath. There was a Ship of State, representing the Union, 
and the name on her side was “Hamilton.” 

III. HAMILTON AND THE NEW GOVERNMENT 

Hamilton’s Financial Plan.—Washington became our 
first President under the new and stronger Government. He 
selected Alexander Hamilton for his Secretary of the 
Treasury. Hamilton himself was honest; he wanted the 
Government to be honest also. The nation had gotten the 
name of being unwilling to pay its debts; Hamilton saw that 
in order to get along it must gain the name of settling its 
accounts. How could this be done? 

“ There is only one way to settle a debt,” said Hamilton; 
“ that is to pay it.” Instead of promising and not paying, 
or of wiping off the account because it was old, he showed 
how the national debts could be paid a little at a time in a 
regular way. “Next,” Hamilton declared, “we must see 
that the state debts are paid.” The separate states as well 
as Congress had borrowed money, and some states declared 
they could not and would not pay their debts. “The nation 
will pay them,” replied Hamilton. There was a loud outcry 
from some men of influence, but Hamilton saw that this 
would make the people in the states think more of the new 
National Government than ever before. 

The third part of Hamilton’s plan was a great Bank of 
the United States. Robert Morris’s Bank of North America, 
begun ten years before, had been of much help to the 
Government, but it was rather a small bank and it was owned 
by private people. Hamilton’s Bank of the United States 
was to be large. It would have a great many stockholders 
among the people, but the Government after all would have a 
large share in owning it and would put all its money into 


ALEXANDER HAMILTON 


97 


the bank’s keeping. We need no bank exactly like the Bank 
of the United States today, but we have banks (Federal 
Reserve Banks) which the Government established during 
President Wilson’s time to make business more safe and 
more sure. 

Our New Money.—With all this talk of money, it was 
time to decide on a true United States kind of money. Up 
to the time of the Revolution, all of our American calcula¬ 
tions had been made in the 
English pounds, shillings 
and pence. The Continental 
Congress at the close of the 
Revolutionary War decided 
that the Spanish dollar was 
to make the foundation of 
our money, and Thomas 
Jefferson laid down an easy 
and simple plan by which 
the dollar was divided into 
ten dimes and the dime into 

ten cents. That was all very good, but no one so far had 
ever seen a gold or silver American dollar. The word 
“ dollar ” stood on our poor paper money, and people usually 
counted prices in dollars, but there were no hard cash dollars 
to be found. A mint was needed. 

Robert Morris had tried to set up a mint to make gold 
and silver coins, but the plan had fallen through. Now David 
Rittenhouse of Philadelphia was made Director of the Mint, 
and a brick building for the mint was erected. From that 
building in 1792 came our first silver pieces. They were 
half-dimes. Copper half-cents were made later on, but today 
the United States makes no half-dimes nor half cents. 

Hamilton’s plans were carried out by Congress, and soon 
the good effects of them were seen. The Treasury now 

7 



CONTINENTAL PAPER MONEY 










98 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


contained money; the debts of the nation began to be paid 
off; there was good hard cash circulating among the people 
instead of worthless paper money. People now had confi¬ 
dence in the Government instead of despising it, and the 
Government became stronger every year. 

The Whiskey Rebellion. —Of course it could not be ex¬ 
pected that every one would agree with Hamilton’s ideas. 
Some said it was a terrible thing for the nation to pay the 
debts of the states. Some thought it was unjust to tax 
carriages used only for pleasure. But the strongest objec¬ 
tions were made to the tax on whiskey. 

The people of the “backwoods” raised corn as their 
principal crop. The chief way in which they could sell their 
corn to advantage was by turning it into whiskey. The 
whiskey made from a bushel of corn would sell at a higher 
price than the corn, could be carried more easily, and if kept 
would not spoil as the corn was likely to do. Whiskey was 
often as good as money in western Pennsylvania. The people 
west of the Alleghanies refused to pay the tax. 

Washington and Hamilton determined that the whiskey 
rioters must obey the Government. They heard that seven 
thousand backwoodsmen had assembled at Braddock’s Field, 
the old battleground, to show how strong they were; so 
Washington and Hamilton raised twice as many soldiers 
and started them on the march to Pittsburgh. Half-way, 
Washington left Hamilton in charge and went back to his 
duties in Philadelphia. When the army reached the place it 
sought, where were the brave rioters? They had all dis¬ 
appeared. Not even seven, much less seven thousand, could 
be found. They had no wish to fight the United States troops. 
The United States Government had shown its strength. 

Today, although our Government is not perfect, we are 
a strong nation. Under one government we are united, 
prosperous and happy. To bring about this fortunate state 


ALEXANDER HAMILTON 


99 


of affairs was the dream of Alexander Hamilton—and his 
dream came true. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Find ways in which the West India Islands are connected with our 

American history. 

2. Read about the troubles which came when President Jackson, long 

after this time, closed the Bank of the United States. 

3. What is the table of English money? Is the table of United States 

money better in any respect? Explain your answer. 

4. Look closely at all the kinds of United States coins that you can find. 

What is stamped on them? What do the various emblems mean? 

5. Find all the reasons you can why the payment of state debts by the 

Federal Government was such a good scheme. 

6 . Find in the telephone directory or elsewhere the names of a number 

of banks. Which of these names have most meaning to you in 
relation to the business of the bank? 

7. What were Hamilton’s great services to our country? 



STEPHEN DECATUR 


A SALT-WATER HERO 

“ You are accustomed to victory, and you will not tarnish the glory 
you have already won .”—Address to the sailors of the “ United States” 

Stephen the Captain’s Son.—When Howe’s army de¬ 
feated Washington at the Brandywine and it was certain 
that the British would capture Philadelphia, a patriotic sea- 
captain, named Decatur, took his wife 
away from the city. Mr. and Mrs. 
Decatur traveled southward in their car¬ 
riage until they reached Maryland. In a 
little log cabin, within sound of the ocean 
waves, they stayed for more than a year. 
When they came back to Philadelphia 
there were three in the Decatur family, 
for they had a baby, Stephen. 

Mr. Decatur was a fine sailor, and 
also made his voyages pay him well. 
When Stephen was but eight years old, 
his father took him along on his ship across the ocean to 
Europe. Some children would have been afraid, but Stephen 
delighted in life on the sea. Indeed, he felt perfectly at home 
as his father’s vessel sailed out of Delaware Bay upon the 
ocean. His grandfather had been a sea-captain, his father 
was a sea-captain, and Stephen longed for the time to 
come when he, too, might command a vessel. The round- 
trip over six thousand miles of salt water was a wonder¬ 
ful experience. 

Stephen grew up to be a fine lad, of good height, graceful 
and strong, with curling dark chestnut hair and flashing dark 

100 



COMMODORE DECATUR 


STEPHEN DECATUR 


101 


eyes. In all the sports and games of the boys, Stephen was 
among the first. He always played fair, but if any one took 
advantage, that person found Stephen Decatur would stand 
up for his own rights. 

Mrs. Decatur did not want her fine boy to be a sailor. 
She thought it was very dangerous. To please her, Stephen 
went into an office, but his heart could not be kept indoors 
and longed for the open sea. He studied everything which 
he needed to know in order to enter the navy, and hoped for 
the time when he would follow in his father’s footsteps. 

War broke out between the United States and France. 
Then Stephen grew impatient to join a warship. Out of 
respect to his mother’s feelings he made no attempt to join 
the navy, but oh, how he wished to do so! Commodore 
Barry commanded some of the vessels. He was a friend of 
the Decatur family, and knew the turmoil in Stephen’s heart. 
One day a letter came to Stephen, and in it was a commission 
as midshipman 1 on Barry’s frigate. The kind Commodore 
had set Stephen free. He became a lieutenant in less than 
a year. 

Lieutenant Decatur and the Barbary Pirates.—Four 
years later, Lieutenant Decatur was sent to the Mediterranean 
Sea to help in our war against the pirates of the Barbary 
States. These Arab or Moorish countries on the northern 
coast of Africa were in the habit of sending out vessels to 
capture the Christian ships that passed their shores. The 
sailors thus captured became slaves. 

Apparently the nations of Europe, strong as they were, 
feared the Moors, for they often paid them large sums of 
money each year in return for safety of their ships. America 

1 The midshipmen were boys, usually of good education, who were 
being trained as officers. They were often so young that in joke they 
were called “ midshipmites.” 



102 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


did not pay so much as did the European nations and she had 
a weaker navy. The Moors, therefore, made fun of our 
country as a nation to which they need pay no respect. Some 
of our American sailors were captured and wore out their 
lives in hard labor for cruel masters, At last the turbaned 



ruler of Tripoli, one of the Barbary States, actually declared 
war upon us. We had to make him feel our teeth. 

When Decatur reached the American fleet in the Medi¬ 
terranean he found Commodore Preble in trouble. His fleet 
had only two large vessels. One of them, the Philadelphia, 
had run aground and had been captured. Over three hundred 
Americans had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and the 
Tripolitans were repairing the Philadelphia so as to use her 
against our ships. 

“There lies the Philadelphia in Tripoli harbor,” said the 
Commodore. “She must be destroyed.” Decatur at once 
volunteered to d'o the work. Every man on the little ship he 





STEPHEN DECATUR 


103 


commanded wished to go with him, but the number was 
limited to eighty-five. With this small force Decatur em¬ 
barked on a recently captured Tripolitan vessel which the 
Americans had renamed the Intrepid. 2 

Destruction of the “Philadelphia.”—It was a quiet 
evening when the Intrepid sailed into the harbor of Tripoli. 
Forts defended the entrance of the harbor, batteries 
of guns frowned down from the heights, and twenty-five 
Tripolitan war vessels of various sizes lay at anchor ready to 
fire on any foe. If the Tripolitans had known that the 
little craft sailing boldly in was an American, they could have 
blown her out of water in a short time; but they thought she 
was one of the European trading-boats. 

As the Intrepid approached the Philadelphia, the moon 
shone out brightly. Except a few sailors in Italian costume, 
all the men crouched behind the bulwarks. If the crew of 
the Philadelphia suspected too soon who they were, the 
frigate’s big guns would sink them. Decatur, as calm as a 
statue, stood by the helm. Before the Tripolitan commander 
realized what was happening, the Intrepid lay alongside of 
the Philadelphia and Decatur’s men sprang to their feet. 

“Americanos! Americanos!” cried the dark-skinned 
Tripolitans in amazement. The Americans swarmed aboard 
the frigate, their big cutlasses in hand. The men of Tripoli 
had gained fame as fierce fighters, but they could not stand 
against Decatur’s men. In ten minutes a score lay dead. 
Most of the remainder leaped overboard, but a number rushed 
below and hid themselves, only to meet a terrible fate. Not 
one American had even been wounded! 

Now the Americans set the frigate on fire in a dozen 
places and sailed away. The burning Philadelphia made the 

a “ Intrepid ” means fearless. It would have been a good name to 

apply to the commander of the vessel. 



104 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


harbor as light as day, and the enemy’s guns poured shot at 
the slow-moving Intrepid. Not a ball touched her. Soon a 
stunning explosion tore the air, the Philadelphia had blown 
up. Darkness came, for the moon had set; Decatur sailed 
safely out of the harbor. The Tripolitans had gained a 
new idea of the bravery and power of the Americans. As a 
reward for his exploit Decatur was made captain. 

The “United States” and the “Macedonian.”—Seven 
years after Decatur had returned home, our war of 1812 
with England broke out. Decatur, who was then thirty-three, 
sailed off toward the British Isles in the frigate United States, 
a fine-looking vessel. The United States rose as high above 
the water as a two-story house, and carried a vast spread of 
canvas on her three tall masts. Fifty-four cannon looked 
out from her wooden sides, and nearly five hundred men 
worked the muzzle-loading guns and handled the ropes 
and sails. 

Far out on the Atlantic Decatur met an English vessel, 
the Macedonian, one of the newest and best of Britain’s navy. 
Before the war broke out this English ship had been at 
Norfolk, and there Decatur had met her captain. While 
they were praising their own ships, the Englishman said, 
“Well, Decatur, your American ships may be good enough, 
but what practice have you had in war?” Now he was about 
to give Decatur a little practice. 

As the two big ships sailed toward each other, a boy 
named. John Creamer, only ten years old, asked to speak to 
the captain. He had been allowed to come on the cruise with 
his sailor father, but his father had died. Now John was a 
pet among the crew. “I’d like my name put down on the 
ship’s roll, captain,” he said, saluting. “Why?” asked 
Decatur. “Well, I want my share of the prize money when 
we capture that ship,” answered John. Decatur laughed. “It 


STEPHEN DECATUR 


105 


would be a pity to disappoint you/’ said he. “Your name 
shall go down on the list. ,, 

The brave British captain brought his ship on a parallel 
course to that of the United States, and the ships ran along 
firing at each other. He did not know at first that Decatur 
had especially trained his men in gunnery, but he soon found 


out. “ Look at the American ship!” said the British seamen. 
“She is on fire.” But it was only the sheets of flame from 
her guns that the sailors saw. 

The guns of the United States poured in two shots to the 
British one. They came not only fast but true. There was 
slaughter on the Macedonian. Her masts were cut off piece 
by piece and her sails torn to ribbons. At last she lay a help¬ 
less log upon the sea. 

The Macedonian could fight no more, and her captain 
hauled down his flag. John Creamer’s faith in his captain 



CAPTURE OF THE BRITISH FRIGATE “MACEDONIAN” 
From an Old Print. 







106 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


and his ship was justified. 3 The battle had taken only two 
hours. The American ship stayed by her prize until the 
Macedonian was put into shape to sail to America. Two 
weeks of the hardest kind of work was necessary in order to 
partly repair what Decatur’s guns had done in those 
two hours. 

The Fatal Duel.—Decatur won yet more fame during the 
remainder of the War of 1812. Later he fought the Barbary 
pirates again. The name of Decatur was respected by the 
English navy and feared by the fierce Moors. When Decatur 
was thirty-seven he was made a navy commissioner. He, 
with two others, were given charge of the American fleets. 
Naturally his post of duty was in Washington, and there for 
four years he lived a busy and useful life. But, as it did to the 
busy and useful Hamilton, the evil custom of the duel 
brought misfortune. 

Commodore Barron, under whom Decatur had served 
several times, thought he had not received fair treatment 
from Decatur as a navy commissioner. He challenged 
Decatur to fight a duel with him. There was no feeling of 
hatred toward Barron in Decatur’s mind, but he, like 
Hamilton, did not wish to seem cowardly. The two men 
met outside of Washington. Decatur decided that he would 
merely wound his opponent. He struck his man just where 
he intended, but Barron aimed to kill and inflicted a 
fatal wound. 

As Decatur lay on the ground, he said: “I think I am 
mortally wounded. I wish I had fallen in defense of my 
country.” Before another day had come, the gallant captain 
was dead. All the officers of the Government in Washington 
attended the funeral to honor this daring commander, ever 
loyal to his country and brave in her defense. 


3 John received about two hundred dollars of prize-money. 



STEPHEN DECATUR 


107 


FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Read about the life of the galley-slaves under the Moors or the Turks. 

2. Read the description of the fierce fight with the Tripolitans in which 

Decatur’s only brother was killed. 

3. In what ways are the men on our American warships better off now 

than in the time of Decatur? 

4. Put down the names of as many fights as you can find between single 

warships during the War of 1812. In how many cases did the 
Americans win? The British? 

5. What is prize money ? How was it usually divided ? 


OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 


THE HERO OF LAKE ERIE 

“Give me men, and I will acquire honor and glory on this lake 
or perish in the attempt .”—Letter to his commander, Commodore 
Chauncey. 

Perry in the Navy.—In the year when Washington died 
Oliver Perry of Rhode Island became a midshipman on board 

the General Greene, which 
his father commanded. 
Oliver proved to be a ready 
learner, and Captain Perry 
had no reason to be 
ashamed of his son. 

When Jefferson became 
President and the war with 
the Barbary pirates broke 
out, Midshipman Perry was 
sent to the Mediterranean. 
Though he happened to be 
absent when Decatur so 
bravely destroyed the Phila¬ 
delphia, he was present at 
the close of the war, and returned to the United States, like 
Decatur, a lieutenant at the age of twenty. 

For seven years more Lieutenant Perry did his duty in 
the navy. In fair weather or in foul, in cruise or in ship¬ 
wreck, he proved his ability to render successful service. 
Then our War of 1812 with Great Britain began. The work 
assigned to Perry was to command a fleet of little gunboats. 
Decatur, Hull and Bainbridge were sailing the seas and 
getting glory, and Perry fretted at being compelled to stay 
108 



OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 


109 


at home. He bombarded the Government officers at Wash¬ 
ington. with requests to go to the Great Lakes and take part 
in the struggle there. Finally came an order: “Take all the 
best men of your gunboats and go to the Lakes. You will 
see to the building of a fleet on Lake Erie and will then be 
its commander/'’ 

Perry and the War on the Lakes.—February snow lay on 
the ground when the order arrived. Before night fifty of 
Perry’s men were off on their sleds for the Lakes. Others 
followed, and not a week had passed when Perry, taking 
along his thirteen-year-old brother, of the same stamp as 
himself, drove away in his sleigh. After ten days of travel 
over rough roads he reached his journey’s end, reported to 
his superior officer, and then began to look after the building 
of the Lake Erie fleet. 

Haste in building the ships was necessary. The land 
forces of the Americans had met with defeat. Now General 
William Henry Harrison, who afterward became President, 
had succeeded in winning some success over the British in 
Ohio and Indiana. Look at the map and you will see that, 
if the Americans could control Lake Erie, the British in the 
country south of the lake would be caught between two forces 
and would be compelled to move out of the region. 

Perry pushed on the shipbuilding as fast as possible. 
There were workmen enough at Erie and plenty of timber. 
But the timber did not lie seasoning in a lumber-yard, all 
ready cut and well dried; it bore green leaves and stood in the 
shady forest around the little village on the lake. Many a 
time a fine oak tree stood proudly among its mates at dawn; 
at evening it formed the ribs of a vessel. No carpenter 
wants to build with green timber ; but green timber is better 
than none, and ships had to be built. 

The New Ships Afloat.—The ships were launched, but 
another trouble arose. Of what use were ships without 


110 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


men? The British had a fleet of about equal size on the 
lake, but Perry could muster only sailors enough to man his 
biggest vessel. Now the British appeared outside the harbor 
of Erie. They dared not sail in, for there was a sandbar 
across the entrance; but they had great fun cruising back and 
forth in an insulting way. Perry’s blood boiled. He was 
only twenty-seven, and his stock of patience was small. “For 
God’s sake, send me men and officers, and I will have them all 
in a day or two,” he wrote to his superior officer. 

At last, by hook and by crook, the men were secured. 
They were a motley lot. Some were sailors, some were 
soldiers and some were farmers; but Perry took any one 
who could fight. Then he was ready to bring his vessels 
out. The largest of his craft drew twice as much water as 
there was over the bar at the harbor’s mouth, but Perry 
invented a clever way to lift the ship over little by little. It 
was a tedious task, and if the British should come while the 
vessels were hanging on the bar, defeat would be certain; 
but Perry took a chance. 

Captain Barclay, who commanded the English fleet was 
a brave fighter, but not a careful observer. He took his 
chance that the Americans could not get across the bar, and 
while Perry’s men were straining their muscles to float their 
ships, Captain Barclay was enjoying a banquet over in a 
Canadian town. He sailed leisurely back to Erie after the 
banquet and arrived just in time to see the Americans 
finishing their four days’ work. Back toward Canada he 
sailed again. 

The Battle on the Lake.—Perry followed the British to 
the western end of the lake, where he met General Harrison 
and made plans for future operations. Captain Barclay, 
however, did not choose to be penned up in one end of Lake 
Erie, so when he had finished building another fine big 


OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 


111 


vessel to add to his fleet, he came out and headed straight 
for Perry’s ships. 

The two little fleets were fairly evenly matched, though 
what advantage there was lay with the British. Perry sailed 
to meet the English. He had but two good-sized vessels, 
the Lawrence and the Niagara , and he selected the Lawrence 
as his flagship. The ship had been so named after a gallant 
American captain who had been killed in a naval battle. Perry 
hoisted a blue flag bearing in white letters Lawrence’s last 
words, “Don’t give up the ship.” His men cheered as they 
saw it. 

In the Lawrence Perry bore down upon his enemy. The 
September day was fair and the breeze was faint, so the 
vessels of the American fleet could not come up together. On 
Perry’s flagship the British poured almost all of their shot. 
Could they dispose of him and his vessel they could surely 
conquer the rest of the enemy. For two hours they raked 
the Lawrence from every side. The men dropped fast. By 
Perry’s side stood his little brother, as brave as he. Two 
musket shots passed through the lad’s hat and a flying 
splinter ripped his clothes. Then he was knocked across the 
deck, and Perry thought his brother was dead, but it was 
only a folded hammock, driven by a cannon ball, that had 
struck him. 

At last there were not enough men in Perry’s end of the 
ship to work a gun. The captain called the surgeon’s men 
below to come up. One by one they came and one by one 
they fell till not one was left. Perry called again and three 
wounded men crawled up to the deck on hands and knees to 
pull the gun-ropes. Perry himself aimed and fired the 
cannon. Another broadside from the British, and the gun 
was disabled. The Lawrence could fight no more. 

Perry looked over his ship. Out of more than a hundred 
men only fourteen remained uninjured. Twenty-two had 


112 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


been killed outright. The wounded lay everywhere. Perry’s 
eye spied the Niagara, his other large vessel, which had not 
yet come to close quarters, but now was sailing toward the 
British. “Don’t give up the battle,” was Perry’s thought. 
He ordered four of the unwounded men to jump into a boat 
and i;ow him to the Niagara. 

Victory Won.—As Perry with his little brother stepped 
into the boat a sailor hauled down the blue and white flag to 
save it from the British and gave it to him. Throwing it 
around his shoulders he stood up straight in the stern, while 
the shots of the enemy dashed up the water around. His 
men in the other vessels should see what their leader was 
about to do. Finally the sailors said: “We will stop rowing 
unless you sit down.” Perry yielded to their wish. A 
cannon ball knocked a hole in the boat, but Perry pulled off 
his uniform coat, with its gold epaulets, and plugged up 
the leak. 

The Niagara was reached. Up went the “Don’t give up 
the ship” flag. The other American crews cheered and re¬ 
newed the fight. The Niagara spread her sails on a heavy 
breeze and Perry put her right through the British line with 
his other boats closely following. 

Now the English were attacked on all sides by fresh guns. 
They had gotten nearly enough of the fight before this, and 
could not stand the extra pounding. Captain Barclay, who 
had already lost one arm in fighting against Napoleon’s fleet, 
sacrificed his remaining arm in the heat of this battle. In 
eight minutes after the Niagara had broken up the British 
fleet, the white flag of surrender was hoisted. 

Perry returned to his noble flagship, the Lawrence, which 
he wished to honor by standing on her deck to receive the 
British officers in their surrender. After the officers had 
presented their swords, which Perry generously declined to 
receive, he took an old letter from his pocket, and using his 


OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 


113 


cap for a table he wrote in pencil to General Harrison a 
simple but stirring message : 

“ We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, 
one schooner and one sloop. 

“ Yours, with great respect and esteem, 

“ O. H. Perry.” 

It was the first time an entire British fleet, even though 
small, had been lined up against an American fleet. It was 
the first time that an entire British fleet, though only of six 
vessels, had been captured. No wonder that America thought 
it a wonderful victory. Harrison and Perry were called the 
deliverers of the Western settlers. They had in truth saved 
many a home from being burned and many a life from being 
taken by the tomahawk. Perry received promotion to the 
rank of captain, but he was often called Commodore because 
he had commanded the Lake Erie fleet. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. How was America forced into the War of 1812? 

2. Was this war worth while? 

3. Read about the deeds of gallant Isaac Hull and William Bainbridge. 

4. Find out what was the clever device by which Perry lifted his bigger 

ships across the bar. 

5. We have had no forts or war vessels along the Great Lakes for a 

long time. Why not? 

6. General Harrison was often called “Old Tippecanoe” or “The Hero 

of Tippecanoe.” Find out why. 


ANDREW JACKSON 


OUR FIRST WESTERN PRESIDENT 

“ The old patriots are gone or are going, but new ones enough are 
taking their places.” —Words of Jackson just before his death. 

I. GROWING UP WITH THE COUNTRY 

A Coward’s Blpw.—The Revolutionary War was sweep¬ 
ing over the South. Up and down the Carolinas went the 
red-coat cavalry, and their infantry fol¬ 
lowed. The hard-pressed American 
forces had to retreat into the thick pine 
wcjods and the deep swamps; but when 
chance favored, out they came again to 
strike telling blows. Well-drilled and 
well-armed were the British; the Ameri¬ 
cans scarcely knew the name of drill, 
captured from the red-coats the very 
powder which they used, and made 
swords from saws—yet the contest was not so unequal as 
it seemed. Little Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox,” and 
big Thomas Sumter, the “South Carolina Gamecock,” were 
patriot leaders who never despaired. At the darkest times 
they kept up bands of good woodsmen and sturdy fighters. 

Strongly did the Scotch-Irish people of the Waxhaw 
settlement 1 uphold the Continental cause, and much fighting 
took place in that neighborhood. When General Sumter 
attacked the British nearby, two of the Waxhaw boys fol¬ 
lowed the American soldiers “to see the fun.” The battle 
gave them a taste for war, and from that time they were 

1 This settlement lay on the border line between North and South 
Carolina. 



114 



ANDREW JACKSON 


115 


regarded as young men who could be useful in a pinch. 
Robert Jackson had reached the age of only fourteen, and his 
brother Andrew was thirteen, but in those trying years boys 
grew up fast. 

Next year the British sent a troop to surprise the Waxhaw 
patriots. Hearing that the British were on the way, forty 
Americans assembled, and you may be sure that the Jackson 
boys were there as big as life. After all, however, the 
English did surprise the gathering. Robert and Andrew 
escaped to the house of a cousin, but the troopers surrounded 
the place and made the boys prisoners. 

Not satisfied with this success, the brutal soldiers broke 
to pieces the dishes and furniture and even tore up the bed¬ 
ding of the hated Whig family. In the midst of this 
destruction the British captain ordered Andrew to clean his 
muddy boots, but Andrew replied hotly, “Sir, I’m a prisoner 
of war, and not your servant.” The furious captain aimed 
a blow of his sword at Andrew’s head. Although the boy 
threw up his hand and saved himself, he carried to the day 
of his death the scars of that sword-cut. Never could he 
forget the cruelty of that officer. 

Making His Way.—After they had been held prisoners 
for some time, Mrs. Jackson was able to bring her boys out 
of their jail; but they had both taken the terrible, smallpox. 
Robert died as soon as he reached home, hut Andrew’s life 
was spared. Before he had quite recovered, his noble mother 
caught a fever while trying to help other prisoners, and 
Andrew, not yet fifteen, was left an orphan. Never did he 
forget his mother, and ever respected all women for her sake. 
Many a time in after years, when he upheld some golden rule 
of action, Andrew Jackson would say, “That I learned from 
my good mother.” 

For a while Andrew lived with some of his many relatives 
m the Waxhaw settlement, but his disposition and theirs did 


116 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


not agree. He was a restless, rollicking scapegrace, and they 
were quiet people; so when he was nearly eighteen Andrew 
mounted his horse and rode away to find a North Carolina 
lawyer with whom he could study. Two years later he was 
licensed to practice law. The people of Salisbury, where he 
had “studied,” said he was the most roaring, horse-racing, 
mischievous fellow that ever the town had seen, but probably 
Jackson knew more law than they supposed. 

At any rate, Andrew Jackson was now a young man that 
people could not help noticing. Tall and very slender, active 
and daring, with a ready eye and a ready hand, he was to 
make his way in the world. No one ever called Jackson an 
educated man, but no one ever said that he was slow or stupid. 
Some persons are natural-born leaders, and Jackson was 
one of these. 

Go West, Young Man!—In that part of North Carolina 
there was not much business for a brand-new lawyer, so when 
a young man who had been Jackson’s companion as a student 
asked him to come on a trip westward to Nashville, Jackson 
gladly consented. That frontier settlement on the Cumberland 
had been founded only nine years, and the Indians still 
haunted the nearby forest. Even the government road which 
had just been cut through the woods to Nashville, was 
patrolled by a guard to make it safe. 

Jackson found plenty of business in the new settlement, 
so he decided to stay and “grow up with the country.” He 
liked the “log-cabin people” and the people liked him. Fight¬ 
ing, drinking, gambling, swearing, all were part of the daily 
life in those rough days, and were thought rather manly. 
Jackson, therefore, was perfectly at home. In that country 
a man must “hold up his end” to be respected, and Jackson 
could do it very well indeed. 

Land was cheap at Nashville, and land was the true wealth 
of that region. Jackson bought as much land as possible. 


ANDREW JACKSON 


117 


Three years after the young lawyer arrived, he had grown 
to be one of the leading citizens, and a charming wife was 
mistress of his fine plantation, “Hunter’s Hill.” How far 
barefooted Andy of the Waxhaw settlement had climbed! 

In Congress.—The “counties west of the mountains” 
were then part of North Carolina, but so many settlers poured 
in that the counties beyond the Great Smoky range became 
the state of Tennessee. This new state had as yet so few 
people that it was entitled to but one Representative. That 
one elected was sociable, stirring Jackson. 

Only twenty-nine years old was the new Representative 
when he left “Hunter’s Hill” to ride the eight hundred miles 
to Philadelphia; but though young, he knew his own mind. 
When Jackson went to Nashville, Washington had not yet 
become our head; now Jackson took his seat in Congress in 
time to hear the good President’s last speech to the members. 
Though many Congressmen thought Jackson a real back¬ 
woodsman, and laughed at his cue done up in an eelskin, his 
badly-fitting clothes, and his passionate, choking way of 
speech, Jackson did well for his new state. 

Judge Jackson.—Days in a stuffy city room, listening to 
long speeches, did not suit Andrew Jackson. He was glad 
when hisjriends made him a state judge and he could resign 
from Congress. The post of judge was considered good, as 
Jackson’s salary came to four-fifths that of the governor of 
Tennessee. How much do you think Jackson did receive? 
Six hundred dollars a year! We see that dollars counted for 
more in those days. 

Judge Jackson liked the riding about that was necessary; 
he liked the sight of new faces. Sometimes the faces looked 
unpleasant but that did not affect the judge’s decisions. One 
day Jackson and his two companion judges ordered the sheriff 
to arrest a desperate character named Bean. The fellow 


118 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


laughed in the sheriff’s face. Even when the sheriff called 
a party of men to assist him, Bean defied them all. 

When the sheriff reported these things to the judges, 
Jackson sternly asked, “How will you account to your 
country, Mr. Sheriff, for this failure ?” Stung by the words, 
the sheriff called on the judges themselves to act. Two of 
them replied, “It is not our business,” but Jackson came 
forward. With pistol in hand he walked straight up to Bean, 
“Surrender, or I’ll shoot you down!” he cried. Bean saw 
death in Jackson’s eye and prudently surrendered. “Justice 
at any cost,” was Jackson’s motto. 

II. JACKSON THE SOLDIER 

Old Hickory.—While he was yet a judge, Jackson was 
elected general of the militia in western Tennessee. The 
officers who voted him into office declared he would make a 
good soldier; and they were right. Years passed; Jackson 
resigned as judge, changed his home from “Hunter’s Hill” 
to a better plantation, the “Hermitage,” and busied himself 
directing the farm work, but still he kept his military post. In 
his bones Jackson felt that trouble would come and his 
services would be needed. 

Trouble came. The United States went into a second war 
with England. Jackson was ordered to raise troops, then to 
march them south to capture Florida, where the Spaniards 
were helping the English. Eagerly Jackson and his men 
started off, but after a while came a fresh order, “Turn 
around and march home again.” Sadly the Tennesseeans 
tramped back, but they had learned to admire their plucky 
general. Because he was so tough in enduring hardships they 
called him “Old Hickory”—and that was his nickname 
ever after. 

War With the Red Sticks.—Soon after Perry’s victory 
on Lake Erie a horrible event occurred in Alabama. The 


ANDREW JACKSON 


119 


Creek Indians, stirred up by the British, fell upon a fort of 
the settlers and killed most of its surprised garrison. No 
white person in Alabama felt safe. The Tennesseeans rose 
to aid their neighbors across the border. 

General Jackson lay in bed, suffering from the wounds of 
two bullets received in a quarrel. Though one arm was use¬ 
less and he was nearly dead from loss of blood, Jackson 
decided to head the needed troops. “Can the General travel ?” 
the doctor was asked. “No other man could, but I don’t 
know what Jackson will do,” came the answer. 

Although his arm was in a sling, and he could not mount 
his horse without help, Jackson rode ahead of his men. As 
fast as possible he marched into the heart of the Creek 
country. In several battles the “Red Sticks,” as the 
Americans called the Creek warriors, were beaten, but they 
were not broken. 

Supplies failed to come, and the hungry soldiers started 
back toward home. Old Hickory’s rage grew terrible. Should 
all the labor of the army be thrown away? Down from his 
horse leaped Jackson. With his one good hand he grasped a 
musket and leveled it across the neck of his steed. “I’ll kill 
the first man who stirs a foot forward,” he shouted. For a 
moment the sick leader alone held back the whole body of 
mutineers; then some loyal officers and men arrived to line 
up behind Jackson. The rebellion had failed for that time. 

Even Jackson’s determined stand, however, could not keep 
the tired militia when their time of enlistment ended. In 
spite of his appeals they went off by droves, and at last the 
General was left in the Indian country with one hundred men. 
“Fall back? Never!” spoke iron-willed Jackson. 

Creek Power Ended.—Fortunately, before long, a strong 
force of Americans appeared, and Jackson set forth against 
the main stronghold of the Creeks. At Tohopeka or Horse¬ 
shoe Bend, on the Tallapoosa River, the Indians had built a 


120 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


zigzag wall of logs. Behind the wall lay a mass of fallen 
trees, giving shelter to their sharpshooters. In the “horse¬ 
shoe” between the wall and the river lived nearly a thousand 
fierce warriors with many women and children. If “Captain 
Jackson” attacked, they would give him a hot welcome, and 
if he proved too strong, they would cross the river in their 
canoes and vanish with mocking shouts into the forest. 

Jackson was wiser than the Indians, He sent part of his 
men to hold the opposite river-bank and prevent the Creeks 
from escaping. Some friendly Indians swam across, seized 
the Creek canoes and set fire to their huts. At this signal 
the whites charged over the wall and fell upon the braves. 
Only a handful escaped. 

The power of the Creeks was broken. A thousand of 
their warriors fled to Florida, where they found safety, under 
the Spanish flag, for a few years. More than half of the 
land of the Creeks became Spanish property, and before many 
years all of the Indian tribes in the South were removed west 
of the Mississippi, for the Southwest had to grow. General 
Jackson of the militia was rewarded for his success by being 
made General Jackson of the regular army. 

Protecting New Orleans.—All this time the war with 
England continued. While the Creeks were giving up their 
land by treaty, the British captured Washington and burned 
the Capitol. Now they determined to seize New Orleans 
and thus stop the American trade down the Mississippi. 
Their plan became known, and Jackson, who had rushed 
from the Creek country to defend Mobile, now rushed from 
Mobile to defend New Orleans. 

The people of that city expected to see the famous general 
glittering in gold-lace and waving a plumed hat; when they 
viewed his keen eye looking from beneath an old leather cap, 
and noted his shabby blue cloak and high muddy boots, they 
felt as disappointed as many persons during the Civil War 


ANDREW JACKSON 


121 


were with the appearance of General Grant. As soon as 
Jackson began to give directions, it was another story, for 
here was a man who knew his own mind. 

Because the Mississippi current ran so swiftly, the British 
did not try to come up against it, but approached New Orleans 
by a lake-passage on the east. Unknown to Jackson, the red¬ 
coats landed, and just before Christmas, 1814, camped by the 
river-side, only eight or nine miles from the city. The British 
had twelve thousand veterans—Jackson had then only fifteen 
hundred raw troops; but from all sides he called reinforce¬ 
ments, the “hunting-shirt boys” from Tennessee and 
Kentucky. When he heard that the admiral of the fleet of 
thirty-six fine British ships had said, “I expect to eat my 
Christmas dinner in New Orleans,” Jackson remarked, 
“Perhaps so; but I shall be at the head of the table.” 

“This will be an easy job,” thought the English. “These 
Americans cannot fight like the tried troops of Napoleon 
which we have already conquered.” Soon they found that 
before them they had indeed an American fighter. “I will 
give the British a Christmas fandango,” 2 said Jackson, and 
in the night he attacked their amazed camp. It was the first 
time during the war that the Americans dared to attack the 
red-coat regulars, and that little brush made the British pause 
so long that Jackson gained time to build strong earthworks 
across their path. 

The Battle on the Plain.—At last the British advanced 
upon the American lines, but such a vigorous cannonade met 
them that they stopped for three days more. Then their own 
batteries began, but the American gunners did better than 
before and the British stopped again. At dawn of a 
January morning, however, the British army advanced to 
finish the business, “That low breastwork, manned by a 
backwoods rabble, will not detain us long,” laughed they. 


2 Fandango, a Spanish dance. 



122 OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 

Steadily, quickly, came the British through the morning 
fog. Behind the mud embankment the American cannon 
roared and the American rifles flashed. Jackson walked 
along behind his lines crying, “Give it to them, boys; let’s 
finish the business today!” Sir Edward Pakenham, the 
British general, rode to the head of his wavering troops. A 



THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 


bullet shattered his right arm, but, waving his hat in the other 
hand, he advanced, shouting, “Hurrah, brave Highlanders!” 
The backwoods rifles marked him down, and with two fatal 
wounds he fell from his horse. 

Soon these veteran British were in full retreat from foes 
half their number. Three thousand of them had been killed 
or wounded by the “rabble” behind the breastworks. Only 
a handful of Americans had suffered. Jackson could scarcely 
believe his own success. Utterly defeated, the troops that 
had faced Napoleon’s “fire-eaters” stole away to their ships. 


ANDREW JACKSON 


123 

All the hundreds of lives lost in this battle might have 
been saved had the telegraph been invented. Two weeks 
before the fight there had been signed the treaty which was 
supposed to end the war; but so long a time was needed for 
sailing vessels to bring mail across the Atlantic, that Congress 
did not learn of the treaty until seven weeks after it was 
signed. Thirty-eight days after the battle, a messenger set 
out by stage-coach from Washington, taking to Jackson the 
news of peace; and it required nineteen days more for the 
man to reach Jackson and deliver his message. Nearly two 
months for the carrying of two messages which could now go 
from Belgium to Washington and from Washington to New 
Orleans in less than an hour! 

III. JACKSON THE PRESIDENT 

In the Race.—From the time of the British retreat General 
Jackson became one of the nation’s heroes. When we bought 
Florida he was made its governor, but soon he gladly returned 
to his dear “Hermitage” near the Cumberland. His state, 
however, would not let him rest there long; he was elected 
United States senator, and then his name came up for Presi¬ 
dent. De Witt Clinton, Henry Clay, John Calhoun, and 
John Quincy Adams (son of former President John Adams), 
all famous men, also entered the field. 

When election day passed, and the votes of the people were 
registered, it was found that no one of the candidates had 
received enough votes to gain the prize. According to our 
Constitution’s directions, then, the House of Representatives 
took up the task of deciding. John Quincy Adams received 
a majority of votes from the Flouse, and became our Presi¬ 
dent as his father had been nearly thirty years before. 

Jackson wrongly believed that some trick had defeated 
him. To give up was never his nature. Soon he resignd 
from the Senate and went home to plan for the next Presiden- 


124 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


tial election nearly four years ahead, and his friends declared 
that the vote had shown he was the real choice of the country. 
The four years passed away; then Adams and Jackson stood 
opposed for the office of President. 

Winning the Race.—On the side of Adams were the 
"‘established people”—most of the bankers, the manu¬ 
facturers, the ship-owners and important merchants, those 
who were settled and satisfied. On Jackson’s side were the 
“plain people” who had built up the great new states which 
were then the West. They wished to see one of their own 
kind in the White House. “Isn’t Andy Jackson of Tennessee 
just as good as your Virginia planters and Massachusetts 
lawyers?” they asked. 

When the Adams newspapers declared that Jackson had 
murdered various persons, among them two Indian chiefs, by 
ordering them shot in cold blood, the Jackson newspapers 
replied, “Why don’t you tell the whole truth? On the eighth 
of January, 1815, he murdered fifteen hundred British 
soldiers for merely trying to get into New Orleans.” 3 

That witty answer delighted the people of the West. Sam 
Houston and Davy Crockett, the future Mexican fighters of 
Texas, with Nathan Boone, son of famous Daniel Boone, 
were eager helpers of Jackson. When the news arrived that 
he had won the election, Jackson showed no surprise, for he 
had been sure all along that the “plain people” would carry 
him through. 

The President’s Backbone.—Jackson’s election was truly 
a revolution in the United States government. It showed 
that the “star of empire” was still moving westward, and 
that the new had overcome the old. When the Adams men 
saw the “plain people” at Jackson’s first reception pushing 
into the White House, standing with muddy boots upon the 

3 The number of British killed was exaggerated. Their real loss in 
killed and fatally wounded was about 850. 



ANDREW JACKSON 


125 


damask chairs and upsetting refreshments, they thought 
revolution had come indeed. As another sign of revolution, 
Jackson proceeded to turn out hundreds of old officials in 
order to appoint his friends to those places. Great outcry 
arose, but the new President thought, “He who is not with 
me is against me,” and proceeded to turn out more persons 
of the Adams party. 

No one could deny, however, that Jackson had a strong 
backbone. Some of the southern states thought that they 
ought to have power to contradict or “nullify” the laws of 
the Federal Government. Friends of John C. Calhoun, 
leader of South Carolina, gave a banquet to which they 
invited the President. At the banquet many toasts were 
given, and the aim of these was to make of little account the 
authority of the government. When Jackson’s turn arrived, 
he straightened his tall form and said, “in that crisp, harsh 
tone that had so often been heard above the crashing of 
many rifles,”—“Our Federal Union! It must and shall 
be preserved!” 

Calhoun was taken by surprise. The glass trembled in 
his hand. Jackson’s toast had served notice that “Old 
Hickory” would use his great power to keep on fighting for 
the Union. The followers of Calhoun and the followers of 
Jackson would be eternally opposed to each other. Thirty- 
one years later, to the very month, that contest began a war 
at Fort Sumter in that very state of South Carolina, but 
neither Jackson nor Calhoun was alive to see that day. 

A More Perfect Union.—Two years after that noteworthy 
banquet South Carolina threatened to withdraw from the 
Union if the government should try to enforce a tariff law 
which she did not like. “I don’t especially like that tariff 
myself,” said Jackson, “but I will execute the laws of the 
United States. If I must, I will send forty thousand men to 
put down resistance. The people of South Carolina may 


126 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


talk all they please, but if one drop of blood is shed, I will 
hang the first guilty man to the first tree that I can reach.” 

“I don’t believe he would really hang anybody, do you?” 
asked one of the South Carolina Congressmen. “Well,” 
answered Colonel Benton, whose bullet had been the one that 
disabled Jackson’s arm long before, “when Jackson begins to 
talk about hanging, people can begin to look out for the rope.” 
South Carolina backed down. We Americans owe a great 
debt of gratitude to Jackson for his firm stand in favor of 
strong government at Washington. 

When the next presidential election came, Jackson was 
given a second term in the White House. Many of those who 
had opposed him now stood by him because he was such an 
upholder of a strong Union. Jackson made a tour through 
New England, the stronghold of his foes, and even there he 
received great attention. Harvard College gave him a degree 
of Doctor of Laws. When a Harvard man made a Latin 
speech to him, Jackson replied, “My Latin is a little rusty. 
All that I know is E pluribus unum (One out of many) our 
United States motto.” The people cheered that Latin to 
the echo. 

Killing the Bank.—Another question, almost as serious 
as that of “nullification,” came up for debate. The great 
Bank of the United States, which carried out Hamilton’s 
financial ideas, and handled all the government money, had 
to have its charter renewed or else go out of business. Jackson 
had always thought that it was not right to give such power 
to one bank. Beside this, its president, Nicholas Biddle, upon 
one occasion haughtily informed Jackson that because the 
Bank handled Government money was no reason why the 
Government should try to run the affairs of the Bank. “I 
consider that ‘Emperor Nicholas’ is using the people’s money 
to work in politics,” thought Jackson. “The Bank must come 
to an end.” 


ANDREW JACKSON 


127 


“Nick” Biddle did his best to save the Bank. He called 
to his aid Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, but nothing could 
be done. The great Bank with its “marble palace” in 
Philadelphia and its twenty-five branches in other States, had 
three years to run, but its supply of government money 
stopped. For the first and probably the last time in our 
history, the Government paid every debt, and still the money 
poured in, largely from the sale of western public land. 

This wealth now went to the banks of various States, and 
these little banks, run by men of little experience, lent much 
money to “get-rich-quick” traders in land. Jackson wished 
to stop this speculation; therefore he ordered that all pay¬ 
ments to the Government for public land should be made in 
good hard gold or silver, which were also hard to get. Instead 
of this rule stopping the speculators from trading, it only 
made people try to get rid of their bank-notes. 

As there was not enough hard cash to go around, prices 
went up, people grew cautious, and work became scarce. 
When Jackson, now seventy years old, retired from the White 
House, a terrible business panic was about to break. When it 
came, it was all considered to be Jackson’s fault, and probably 
the closing of the Bank of the United States was a mistake; 
but we must remember that Jackson honestly opposed this 
gambling in land which really caused the panic. 

The Hermitage Light-House. —So well had the old 
general entertained his many friends in Washington, so many 
times had he dipped into his purse to help the “plain people,” 
that he returned to the “Hermitage” in debt. Like 
Washington returning to Mount Vernon after the war, 
Jackson found everything out of repair. His Tennessee 
friends started a subscription to pay his debts, but Jackson 
proudly announced, “I can still take care of myself,” then he 
sold some land and cleared up his accounts. After that, his 
good management made his plantation prosper. 


128 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


For the next eight years the “Hermitage” was a light¬ 
house, from which came signals helping to guide the new 
Democratic party, begun by Jackson himself. From that 
spot Jackson watched, as he said, “the rising greatness of the 
South and West.” When President Polk, who favored add¬ 
ing the great state of Texas to our Union, was elected, the 
general gave a grand “barbecue” at which an ox was roasted 
whole. “We have extended our area to the Rio Grande,” he 
declared. “Now for Oregon!” 

In the Hickory Chair.—Though the spirit of Old Hickory 
remained as strong as ever, his body began to fail. On the 
day when James Polk became President, every one at the 
Hermitage gave up hope for Jackson’s life except Jackson 
himself. “My time has not quite come !” he gasped; soon he 
walked out again into the spring sunshine or sat in the great 
arm-chair of hickory poles which his admirers had given him. 

On a June day, however, came the end. The old man sat 
in the big hickory chair, and some of his faithful old slaves 
stood about him. To them he stammered, “Be good. Don’t 
cry. We shall meet—” and with those words of comradeship 
on his lips he passed away. Never, perhaps, has a President 
been so loved and so hated. Jackson ever loved a fight, but 
for his friends no service was too great. A tender husband, 
a good master, a staunch soldier, a sincere patriot, a man of 
power who saw the future of our West—such was 
Andrew Jackson. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Tell some of the exploits of the Southern swamp fighters. 

2. Draw a map of John Robertson’s wonderful voyage to settle Nashville. 

3. Find out why the Creeks were able so easily to capture Fort Mims. 

4. How was it that Jackson brought up Lincoyer, the Creek boy? 

5. Why are the names of Jefferson and Jackson often associated? 

6. How many soldiers have occupied the White House? How many of 

our Presidents have been both soldiers and lawyers? 


DANIEL BOONE 


THE WOODSMAN OF THE WEST 

“ I am not a statesman, I am a woodsman .”—Letter to Governor 
Shelby of Kentucky. 

I. THE KENTUCKY PIONEER 

The Log-Cabin Boy.—In one of the log cabins of a 
beautiful Pennsylvania valley near the city of Reading lived 
a blue-eyed boy named Daniel Boone. The forest was his 
school and his playground. When 
sent out to mind the cattle, the 
little fellow often left them to 
watch themselves, while he 
watched the birds, the rabbits, the 
squirrels and the deer. Most of 
the book-learning he received was 
from his mother, who taught him 
to read and write after a fashion 
and to “ do sums.” The less said 
of Daniel’s spelling the better, for 
he did it by ear and by main 
strength. Here is a part of one 
of his letters written when he be¬ 
came a man : 

“Deer Sister with pleasuer I Red your Later I wright to 
you to Latt you know I have not forgot you I am with my 
Sun Nathan and in tolerabel halth you can gass at my feilings 
by your own gave my love to your childran fearwell 
Deer Sister.” 

Daniel and His Gun. The Yadkin Country.—The gun 
came more easily to Daniel’s hand than did the pen. At the 

9 129 








130 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


age of twelve, to his great joy, his father gave him a light 
rifle for his very own. Now he felt he was a man. While 
Patrick Henry with his long flint-lock muzzle-loader roved 
through the Virginia woods along the South Anna River, 
Daniel Boone brought down with his gun the Pennsylvania 
game along the Schuylkill. 

Mr. Boone was something of a manufacturer. He kept 
half a. dozen handlooms weaving cloth for sale to the neigh¬ 
bors and to people in distant Philadelphia, and he had a black¬ 
smith shop where iron 
articles were made and re¬ 
paired. Daniel took his 
turn at the loom and the 
forge, but the occupation 
he preferred was hunting. 
Winter after winter he 
spent in this way, and by 
the time he reached the 
age of sixteen he brought 
in more game than any one else in the settlement. The 
days and nights he passed in the woods, moreover, gave 
him ability to take care of himself under any conditions. 

Thus Daniel Boone grew up, tall and big-chested, the 
pattern of a wilderness hunter. One day his father, who had 
grown tired of the Oley Valley, said: “Daniel, we are going 
to sell our land here and move to North Carolina.” Daniel 
leaped for joy. Before long the canvas-covered wagons 
holding Mr. Boone’s goods were moving on their way to the 
new home. Daniel, with his father and brothers, walked 
ahead of the wagons or drove the cattle, while the women and 
girls sat under the canvas hoods and guided the horses. 
Through Maryland they went, crossed the Potomac and fol¬ 
lowed the Valley of Virginia down to the western part of 



PIONEER DWELLING 







DANIEL BOONE 


131 


North Carolina. There, on the Yadkin River east of the 
mountains, they settled down. 

Daniel with Braddock’s Army. He Hears of Kentucky.— 
Daniel found good hunting along the Yadkin, but also found 
some danger from the Indians. When he was twenty, the 
French and Indian War began. General Braddock called for 
volunteers to go with his British regulars against Fort 
Duquesne, and Daniel Boone was one of those who answered 
the call at the same time that Washington led out his Virginia 
volunteers. As Daniel was young, the officers made him 
drive a wagon. This was not what he enlisted for, but it 
gave him more chance to talk to the older hunters who 
traveled along with the army. 

One of these hunters, John Finley, told wonderful stories 
of a land across the mountains called by the Indians 
Kan-tuck-ee or Kentucky, where the forests were finer, the 
grass greener, the skies bluer and the game more numerous 
than east of the Appalachians. “It is so fine a country,” said 
Finley, “that the Indians keep it as a hunting-ground and do 
not live there to scare the game away; but when the Indians 
from north of the Ohio cross the river into Kentucky and 
meet the redskins who come up from the south, there are 
many fierce fights. Kentucky in the Indian language means 
‘The dark and bloody ground,’ and although it is so charming 
to the sight, no man’s life there is safe.” 

Daniel’s heart took fire at the word-picture that Finley 
drew. “I’d like to go there,” he said. Finley gave him 
directions; but soon it did not seem as though Boone would 
ever live to follow them. Near Fort Duquesne a hail of 
bullets burst upon Braddock’s army. When Daniel saw it 
was useless to fight the unseen enemy any longer, he jumped 
on the back of one of his wagon-horses and thus escaped. 

Once safe at home, Daniel was content to stay for a 
while, as he fell in love with a black-eyed, rosy-cheeked girl, 


132 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Rebecca Bryan, who lived nearby. When Rebecca was but 
seventeen, she and the young hunter were married by Daniel’s 
father, who was a justice of the peace, and they set up house¬ 
keeping in a cabin which Daniel built with his own hands. 
There Boone stayed with wife and children for several years. 
As time went on he did less and less farming and more and 
more hunting. The furs which he brought home could always 
be sold to good advantage. 

Boone Reaches Kentucky.—As the number of people 
along the Yadkin increased, game grew scarce. Daniel had 
to push his hunting trips farther and farther westward. Once 
he went into the country which is now Tennessee, shot a bear 
that had climbed into a giant beech tree, and carved on the 
bark with his knife : “D. Boon cilled a bar on this tree in the 
year 1760.” As he traveled westward the desire to reach 
Kentucky increased in his mind. He tried several times, but 
missed the right track. 

To Boone’s cabin one fall came his old friend, John 
Finley. You can guess whether he received a warm welcome. 
Boone pressed him to stay all winter, and he consented. In 
the spring Boone and Finley, with four other men, mounted 
their horses, put packs on six more, which they led, stuck 
their tomahawks and hunting-knives into their belts, slung 
around them their powder-horns and bullet-pouches, seized 
their rifles, then bade farewell to the women and children and 
set off for Kentucky. 

After a long and toilsome journey through the mountains, 
Finley guided them to a place where a buffalo trail enabled 
them to find a pass through a high ridge. This was Cumber¬ 
land Gap, the famous gateway to Kentucky. Continuing 
through the Gap, the mountains grew lower and lower, until 
the real Kentucky opened to their view. It was indeed 
beautiful, and the buffaloes, so Boone remarked, were more 
numerous than cattle were along the Yadkin, and quite as 
fearless. Around the salt springs they clustered in hundreds. 


DANIEL BOONE 


133 


Boone’s Stay in Kentucky.—In this hunter’s paradise the 
six men set up a camp. They laid up a rich store of furs, 
but after a time Indians appeared, and the white men found 
themselves prisoners. Fortunately the Indians did not seem 
bloodthirsty. They took all the property of the hunters except 
enough food to keep them from starving on the road home, 
and told the whites to start eastward at once. “This is our 
land,” said the Indians. “If you come back, we will kill you.” 

The white men began their homeward journey on foot, 
but before they reached Cumberland Gap Boone’s brother 
appeared, bringing with him horses and supplies. Daniel had 
gone in debt for his share of the expedition. “I will not go 
home empty-handed,” he declared to his companions. “My 
brother and I will stay.” Two men decided to keep the 
Boones company. They went back into the good hunting- 
ground and spent the winter. By spring one man had been 
killed by the Indians and the other made up his mind to 
return. Boone’s brother went to North Carolina again to sell 
their winter’s heap of skins and Daniel remained alone in that 
wild region, hundreds of miles from home. He kept up his 
courage, avoided the Indians with marvelous skill and 
traveled about until he knew Kentucky well. 

When the brother made his appearance they went to hunt¬ 
ing with great vigor again. At the end of two years from the 
time Daniel had entered Kentucky the brave brothers started 
home. On the way they again met Indians and were robbed 
of everything once more. Boone had come back poorer than 
he went, except for his knowledge of Kentucky; but he found 
his wife and children well, and he had gained great reputation 
as a daring man. 

Boone Tries to Settle Kentucky.—Boone now desired to 
take his family to the beautiful land where he had spent two 
years. He told his neighbors about it and sang its praises so 
well, that, in the year of the Boston Tea-Party, five families 


134 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


joined his on a journey to the “promised land.” Daniel’s 
family alone numbered ten, including himself and his wife. 
More people were to join them from other settlements. 

On the way, however, Indians attacked some of the party, 
and killed several, including Boone’s oldest son. This dis¬ 
couraged the travelers. Boone tried to persuade them to go 
on. “There are nearly a hundred of us,” said he. “We can 
beat the Indians.” But the backwoodsmen returned to their 
homes. Boone felt that he did not wish to return to the 
Yadkin, so he stayed with his family in Tennessee, not far 
from Cumberland Gap, and waited for a good time to try his 
plan of settlement again. 

II. BOONE SEES KENTUCKY ESTABLISHED 

The Wilderness Road and Boonesboro.—Boone had now 
made the name of Kentucky familiar to the backwoodsmen. 
Other parties of pioneers wandered into that country, but 
had great difficulties with the Indians. Judge Henderson of 
North Carolina, a man of some wealth, thought he would like 
to imitate William Penn or Lord Baltimore and be proprietor 
of a colony. The new country of Kentucky, he thought, 
would be exactly right for his colony. Although Virginia 
claimed the land, Judge Henderson went ahead as though the 
Indians were the only owners. He formed the Transylvania 1 
Company, which raised money and bought the rights of the 
Cherokee Indians. Then he employed Daniel Boone to cut a 
road through the wilderness to Kentucky and select a place 
for the first settlement of Transylvania. 

Thirty woodsmen were gathered by Boone to make up 
his party. About a month before the fights at Lexington and 
Concord, Daniel Boone and his men began the laying out of 
the famous Wilderness Road. From near the border line 


1 Transylvania means the land beyond the forest. 



DANIEL BOONE 


135 


between Virginia and Tennessee, where the Watauga River 
flows into the Holston, the road was “blazed” west to 
Cumberland Gap, then north to a spot in the heart of 
Kentucky, the goal that Boone long before had selected as a 
fine place for a home. 

When Boone’s men reached the plains of the Blue Grass 
country, as that part of Kentucky is called today, they said 
they had never seen so rich a soil. Much of it was covered 
with woods in which fed wild turkeys so numerous that no 
end could be seen to the flocks. There were dangerous 
animals in this fair land, however, in the form of Indians. 
When Boone had almost reached his stopping-place, the 
savages stole up one night upon his camp, fired into it and 
killed two men. Boone, nevertheless, stood his ground, put 
the Indians to flight and finished his journey. 

The spot Boone had selected as the end of his weary road 
lay on the bank of the clear Kentucky River. Nearby was a 
great salt-lick 2 to which the buffalo had worn a regular road. 
With plenty of water, plenty of game and plenty of rich land, 
it seemed like an excellent choice. Here Boone built a fort. 
When Judge Henderson arrived, soon after, he named the 
settlement Boonesboro. 

Rescue of the Boonesboro Girls.—As soon as Boonesboro 
was fairly settled, Boone went to the Watauga River and 
brought his wife and children back with him to Kentucky. 
His wife and daughters, therefore, were the first white 
women to set foot on the soil of the new country. Others 
soon followed, and Boonesboro, with its oblong palisade, 
along which the cabins were built, began to look homelike. 

One July afternoon three of the pioneer girls, one of 
whom was Jemima, Boone’s daughter, went down to the 

3 The salt-licks were places where salt springs came out from the 

ground. Here wild animals of every kind would come to lick the salty 
earth. 



136 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


river, took a canoe, and began to paddle about. After a time 
they grew tired and let the craft drift. Little did they know 
that the fierce eyes of Indians were peering at them through 
the bushes. As the canoe drifted near the farther bank of the 
stream, a tall warrior waded out and dragged it to shore. The 
girls were so far from the fort that their shrieks were not 



DANIEL BOONE’s FORT 


heard, and the savages hurried them off through the woods 
toward the Ohio. 

When at last the mothers missed the girls and the fathers 
found the empty canoe, Daniel Boone and six other men 
started off on foot, following the trail. Soon they noticed 
that the girls, like good pioneers, had kept their heads and, 
in spite of the sharp eyes of their captors, were secretly leav¬ 
ing signs for the white men to find. Here was a wet place 
where one of the brave maids had left a plain footprint; 
there was a little piece of another girl’s dress, left on a thorny 
bush. It was easy to trace the party. 

Early the second morning after Boone had begun the 
pursuit, the white men caught sight of the smoke of the 



DANIEL BOONE 137 

Indians’ fire. There were the redskins cooking meat; near 
them sat the oldest girl, holding the heads of the other two in 
her lap. Creeping up cautiously, the woodsmen fired. The 
Indians, two of them wounded, ran off into the forest, leav¬ 
ing everything behind, even their moccasins. Three weeks 
later the plucky eldest girl married Flanders Callaway, one 
of the young men who had rescued her, and this was the first 
marriage in Kentucky. 

George Rogers Clark Helps Boone.—Now, in the sum¬ 
mer of 1776, the year after Boonesboro had begun, the 
Indians from the north of the Ohio came in great war- 
parties down into Kentucky. Many settlers had taken up 
land in Kentucky by this time and many a one of these lost 
his life. The rest of the white people collected together in a 
few strong forts and held out there. They sent a messenger 
to Williamsburg to get help from Virginia. 

The people who were governing Virginia had their 
own troubles with the British to think about. “Let the 
people beyond the mountains take care of themselves,” they 
said. Fortunately George Rogers Clark, who had come from 
Kentucky a short time before, was in Williamsburg too. 
“You people of Virginia claim Kentucky,” cried he, “yet you 
will not help her. If Kentucky has to save herself now, 
Kentucky will have nothing to do with you forevermore.” 

Clark convinced the Virginians. They sent powder and 
lead immediately to Daniel Boone, and Clark himself brought 
a big supply by boat down the Ohio. No man could or would 
come from Virginia, but the Kentuckians, now that they had 
ammunition, resolved they would never give up. Fight after 
fight failed to capture the white settlements or shake the 
nerve of the pioneers. Even the women learned to shoot 
from a porthole when the forts were attacked, and the 
children loaded the guns. 

Once Boone’s leg was broken by a bullet, but the Indian 


138 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


fighter, Simon Kenton, shot the Indian who would have 
tomahawked the wounded leader. Another time Boone was 
captured and taken to the Indian towns across the Ohio, 
and his family gave him up as lost; but he escaped to lead the 
settlers once more. George Rogers Clark by this time was 
attacking the British forts in the Northwest Country; never¬ 
theless the Indians and Canadians, sent by Governor 
Hamilton, made one more grand effort to wipe out 
the Kentuckians. 

Five hundred enemies surrounded the Boonesboro fort. 
Within the fort were fifty men and boys, twenty-five women 
and girls, and a number of children; but this weak force had 
no thought of surrender. For ten days the people in the fort 
got no rest. The Indians kept up a constant fire on every 
porthole; they tried to burn the cabins; when all tricks failed, 
they began digging a tunnel so that they could blow up the 
palisades. But the tunnel caved in; then the savages became 
completely discouraged and stole away. Boonesboro had 
proved too hard a nut to crack, and the Indians never tried 
it again. Within ten years the “Dark and Bloody Land” had 
seen the firm establishment of civilization. 

As soon as the Revolutionary War ended, emigrants 
from the thirteen states came pouring along the Wilderness 
Road. It was not a road in our sense of the word, but only 
a trail. No wagon could be dragged along it until after 
twenty years of use, when it was made wider and better. 
During those first twenty years, however, seventy-five 
thousand people had entered Kentucky in that way. So many 
Indians watched the Ohio River that it was a perilous road 
to Kentucky by water. In spite of the hardships of the 
journey, the Wilderness Road was much more safe. When 
General Wayne crushed the Indians of the Ohio country, the 
river path became the easy one, and the Wilderness Road fell 
into disuse. Today the traveler passes through a railway 


DANIEL BOONE 


139 


tunnel under Cumberland Gap and almost forgets the old 
road above his head. 

Kentucky came into the Union as the fifteenth state, just 
after Vermont, and a sturdy state she proved to be. Before 
she had been admitted to the Union, however, her most 



'the northwest country and the famous road or trail of 

DANIEL BOONE 


famous man was no longer a Kentuckian. Boone had been 
given a thousand acres of land in the country he helped to 
settle, and he had staked out and claimed in various places a 
great deal more. Unfortunately, being a man of a simple and 
trusting disposition, and knowing nothing about law, he had 
not taken the proper measures to make his claim stand. 
Other people managed to take it away from him, so that in 













140 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


a few years after the Revolution he had hardly a single 
acre left. 

In a rage, Boone vowed never to live in Kentucky again, 
and with his wife and youngest son he made a home in what 
is now West Virginia. Here on the Kanawha River he lived, 
very popular and much respected. But Boone was not happy. 
The country was filling up with people; game was scarce; 
Boone hated noise and crowds. Though he was sixty-four, 
he built a flat-boat and with his family set out on a voyage 
to join one of his sons in Missouri. “Why do you take such 
a voyage, Mr. Boone ?” some one asked. “I want more elbow 
room,” was the answer. 

Near St. Louis, in Missouri, Boone found a spot where 
he could be happy. In that rather wild country he went 
hunting at his pleasure. When eighty-two he made long 
trips over the plains by himself. It was the life he loved. 
Three of his children lived in Missouri and between his 
hunting trips his time was spent with them. “Never was old 
age more green, or gray hairs more graceful,” said a man 
who met him. When he peacefully passed away at the age 
of eighty-six, he left a name which will always stand on the 
honor roll of those who fought to make our country larger. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. When Daniel Boone is called a pioneer, what is meant? 

2. What kinds of furs would Daniel Boone be likely to bring back for 

sale to the settlements? 

3. Arrange a play called “ Daniel Boone and his family on their way 

to the Yadkin country.” 

4. What right had Daniel Boone and his friends to disturb the Indians 

on their great hunting-ground of Kentucky? 

5. Find some more stories about Daniel Boone’s adventures with the 

Indians of Kentucky. 

6. With what states is Daniel Boone’s life connected in any way? 

7. Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark are often called “ expan¬ 

sionists.” What service did they render to their country to justify 
that name? 


MERIWETHER LEWIS AND WILLIAM CLARK 


TRAIL-BLAZERS TO THE PACIFIC 

“We enjoyed the delightful prospects of the ocean (the Pacific) — 
that ocean, the object of all our labors, the reward of all our anxieties.— 
Journal of the captains. 

I. ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE 

The Two Young Explorers.—Most of the great new 
territory of Louisiana which Jefferson had bought for the 
United States lay wild, utterly unknown to white men. 
For several reasons Jefferson wanted it 
explored. First, he had a natural liking 
for all explorations, because he had been 
born on the frontier of Virginia. Sec¬ 
ond, he wished to know what benefit this 
immense new region of Louisiana could 
be to the United States. Third, he was 
anxious to find a way overland to the 
Pacific Ocean. 

As a leader of the exploring 
expedition, Jefferson selected Captain 
Meriwether Lewis of the United States 
Army, who was then acting as his private secretary. The 
President had known Captain Lewis ever since Meriwether 
was a boy. Lewis’s home was near Monticello, and he had 
played about the house almost as though it were his own. 
He was used to camp life in the woods, could manage men 
and was quick and intelligent. More than ten years before, 
when Jefferson had made an effort to send some one to 
reach the Pacific by the overland route, Lewis had begged 
to go, but the plan failed. Now, at the age of twenty-nine, 
his chance offered itself. 



MERIWETHER LEWIS 
In his costume as an 
explorer 


141 


142 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


For second in command, another young man who had 
been a neighbor of Jefferson was chosen. This was another 
officer, William Clark, a brother of George Rogers Clark. 
He was fitted to endure hardship just as well as his brother. 
While older than Meriwether Lewis, he was not such a good 
leader; but (Mark was a steady, cheerful, capable man to 

stand at Lewis’s side. 
Never was there a word of 
dispute between the two. 
As soon as Clark had been 
chosen he was promoted 
to the rank of captain. 

Up the Missouri.— 
After weeks of study and 
preparation, Lewis felt 
ready to start. With a few 
men he left Pittsburgh in 
the summer of 1803. 
While Decatur was fight¬ 
ing the Tripolitans, Lewis 
was floating slowly down 
the Ohio on his way to 
St. Louis, picking out 
from forts here and there a soldier who seemed suitable. 
Captain Clark joined him at Louisville, bringing nine 
Kentucky hunters and a brawny negro servant. 

When the party was finally collected at St. Louis, it was 
too late to start that year, so the thirty men spent the winter 
in camp opposite the mouth of the Missouri River, up whose 
muddy flood they were to go. In the spring the Americans 
loaded their three boats and began to row up the swift 
Missouri. It was hard work and they made slow progress. 
There were not many settlements along the river, but it took 



WILLIAM CLARK 




LEWIS AND CLARK 


143 


ten days before they passed the last one. This, it is not 
surprising to learn, was the home of Daniel Boone. 

Along the Course of the Missouri.—Up past the mouth of 
the Kansas River and the Platte toiled the strong explorers. 
Just beyond the Platte they met many Indians. Jefferson 
had said: “Keep in peace and good-will with the savages/’ 
so Lewis and Clark held a council with the chiefs on a high 
bank overlooking the river. They gave the Indians medals 
to hang about their necks. The redmen could not read the 
words “Peace and Friendship” which the medals bore, but 
they well understood the design of two clasped hands and 
were much pleased. The city of Council Bluffs, Iowa, now 
stands on the spot of this meeting. 

As the party moved along the course of the Missouri, 
the landscape changed little. Almost everywhere a strip of 
trees bordered the stream, and, the sandy islands in the river 
were clothed with trees also. Behind the woods rose a slope 
which marked where the river had its valley out of the higher 
plains beyond. Every gully and ravine leading down from 
the plains into the river-valley was. marked into trails by the 
hoofs of the immense herds of buffalo which roamed over 
the open country of the West. 

After nearly six months of travel the captains had 
covered sixteen hundred miles. Now the sharp night frosts 
of late October warned them that shelter for the winter must 
be found. They found hundreds of Indians encamped along 
the river and they decided to spend the cold season in that 
spot. The region where they stopped is now called North 
Dakota. Lewis built a log fort with cabins inside, much like 
those of Boonesboro. The Indians were friendly, and helped 
in putting up the cabins. 

Sacajawea. On Once More.—The long and severe winter 
passed away, and once more the explorers prepared to go 
forward. Lewis wished to have an interpreter, who could 


144 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


explain to the Indians of the Far West the object of the white 
men. Among the tribe near the American fort lived a French 
hunter, Charbonneau, whose young Indian wife had been 
captured years before from her home hundreds of miles west¬ 
ward. “Will you go with us, Charbonneau?” asked Captain 
Clark. “Yes, but I must take my wife, Sacajawea; 1 she 
knows the country where you are going.” Sacajawea had a 
little baby, not two months old, but with Indian patience she 
made ready to accompany her husband. 

March sunshine broke up the ice of the Missouri, and 
early in April the white men resumed their journey. Near 
the mouth of the Yellowstone River they saw vast herds of 
buffalo, elk and antelope, so tame that out of curiosity they 
often followed men for some distance. On one occasion 
Captain Lewis, after discharging his rifle at a buffalo, heard 
a growl. Looking around, he saw an enormous grizzly rush¬ 
ing at him with jaws open. There was no time to reload, 
but fortunately the river was near. Lewis barely managed 
to reach the water. He had thrown down his rifle, but kept 
in his hand his spontoon, a kind of spear. The grizzly was 
so surprised to see a man standing in the water brandishing a 
spear that he turned and ran off. 

Over the Great Divide.—After much labor and many 
adventures the expedition came to the canyon where the river 
breaks out of the Rockies. This the Indians called “The 
Gate of the Mountains,” but it was a gate that was shut to 
boats. Three branches here united to form the Missouri, and 
Lewis named the northern and largest branch the Jefferson 
River. Leaving their boats, they marched along the Jefferson 
until a high ridge of the Rocky Mountains confronted them. 
How could they pass that rugged wall? 

For some days Lewis found no trail, nor any Indians to 

1 “ Sacajawea” means “Bird Woman.” The reason for this name 
has not been discovered. 



LEWIS AND CLARK 


145 


direct him. At last he spied a mounted redman; though the 
Indian galloped off, Lewis followed his tracks and they led 
to a pass. Pursuing the Indian road through the mountains, 
they found it came back to the Missouri. As Lewis pushed 
on,’the stream grew smaller so quickly that presently one 
of the men was able, at a narrow place, to stand astride of 
it. Four miles more and Lewis was able to say: “We have 
found the source of the Missouri. This rewards us for all 
our labors and difficulties.” 

On the other side of the mountain wall from which 
flowed the tiny Missouri, the Americans discovered that a 
large stream of cold, clear water flowed toward the west. 
They had crossed the Great Divide, which separates the 
waters of the Mississippi Valley from those which reach 
the Pacific. The first part of their toilsome journey had 
been accomplished. 

II. LEWIS AND CLARK RETURN IN TRIUMPH 

An Unexpected Meeting. Journey to the Sea.—It was 
not long before a party of Indians approached. Lewis, 
unarmed and holding aloft a flag, advanced to meet them and 
made a good impression. The Indians returned with him to 
the main party. When their chief saw Sacajawea, imagine 
his joy, for he recognized her to be his sister, whom he had 
thought lost forever. Nothing was too good for Sacajawea’s 
friends, the white men. The chief supplied guides, horses 
and provisions. Now all was well, and Lewis and Clark 
hoped soon to see the Pacific. 

The passage through the western slope of the Rockies, 
however, was both difficult and dangerous. The craggy 
heights afforded no food to add to their small supply. 
Although it was only the beginning of September, blinding 
snowstorms swept down upon the party. For a month they 
10 


146 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


crept along the steep mountain slopes, and when at last they 
came out on plains again they shouted in gladness. 

Down the beautiful Clearwater River, so well named, 
they went in canoes and out upon a yellow powerful stream 
which Clark called after Captain Lewis. We have forgotten 
that name now, however, and it is the Snake River upon our 
maps. More than a hundred miles from the meeting-point 
of the Clearwater and the Snake the boats of the explorers 
shot out into a great river. For three weeks the current bore 
them swiftly along. After a wild ride through boiling rapids, 
the river suddenly grew quiet. They were approaching the 
ocean. One foggy morning in November a strange roaring 
was heard; as the sun drank up the mist, there rolled the 
waves of the Western Sea. Now they knew that they were 
on the Columbia River, into whose mouth Captain Robert 
Gray of Boston had sailed thirteen years before. 

Stay at the Coast.—The great purpose of Lewis and 
Clark had been accomplished, and the captains were on fire 
to carry back to the United States the news of their dis¬ 
coveries. They had greatly strengthened the claim which 
Captain Gray had given the United States upon the country 
along the Pacific, and they knew that the good tidings would 
please all Americans. They hoped to find some ship which 
would take them back around Cape Horn to their own 
country, but no ship appeared. All that could be done was 
to build another fort and wait throughout the winter. 

The food of the explorers during the winter was neither 
abundant nor varied. Several men were kept constantly 
busy hunting the big elks in the woods. The whites traded 
with the Indians for dried salmon. Eatable roots took the 
place of bread or potatoes. Sometimes, when elk meat and 
raw fish ran low, Lewis’s men ate dog flesh. To the Indians 
that was a great delicacy, but the Americans did not enjoy it. 


LEWIS AND CLARK 


147 


The Journey Home.—Still no ship had appeared by 
spring, so Lewis and Clark decided to take the overland trail 
home. They set out to paddle up the Columbia again. When 
they came to the wild “Cascades” they left their canoes and 
bargained with the Indians for horses. Lewis and Clark had 
almost nothing left of the beads and trinkets with which they 
had been well supplied on the westward journey. However, 
on the way down the river they had often given the Indians 
medicine which helped them. Now the redmen willingly 
brought horses and food in exchange for more doctoring. 

On their ponies the whites traveled with ease to the foot 
of the Rockies. The snow lay piled in many of the passes 
to twice the height of a man, and they had to wait as patiently 
as they could until it melted. By August, however, they had 
recrossed the mountains and had reached Sacajawea’s village. 
Here the captains took leave of Charbonneau and his brave 
little Indian wife. She had been of service to the Americans 
in some large ways and in many small matters. Though 
burdened with her little child, she had endured the hardships 
of the journey without a complaint. Every one was* sorry 
to see the last of the cheerful, helpful “Bird Woman.” 

One day toward the end of September, 1806, the people of 
St. Louis were amazed to see the boats of the brave explorers 
coming down the Mississippi. Nearly two and a half years 
had gone by; every one supposed that the Lewis and Clark 
party had perished in the mountains. Yet here they were, 
toil-worn but happy. Only one man had died through the 
whole long expedition. They had traveled about eight thou¬ 
sand miles of wilderness road. Could they have done so 
without “peace and good will” toward the Indians ? 

Captain Lewis at once hastened to Washington to make 
his report to the President. Not only did Jefferson rejoice in 
the success of the undertaking, but so did also every other 
intelligent American. That little band of heroes received 


148 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


great honor. Each man was given double soldiers’ pay and 
a grant of land. When Congress proposed to make Lewis’s 
reward greater than that of Clark, Meriwether Lewis insisted 
that his brother-officer should be treated as generously as he. 

Before the time of Lewis and Clark, the West for 
Americans had stopped at the Mississippi. On the return of 
those strong, hardy explorers, our people woke up to the fact 
that there was a Far West of which they had never dreamed. 
Soon many settlements were planted west of the Great River 
and fur traders and trappers moved by thousands over the 
Western plains. Our nation never rested till it made the 
Pacific coast as much a part of our American civilization as 
is the Atlantic coast; and it was Captain Lewis and Captain 
Clark who first carried the United States flag overland to the 
western ocean. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. What undoubtedly would have been the result had Lewis and Clark 

forgotten Jefferson’s advice concerning their treatment of the 
Indians ? 

2. Has the Missouri ever developed into a good commercial river? 

Why? 

3. Following the path of Lewis and Clark today, would we see great 

herds of buffalo? Read the stories of the hunters and the buffalo. 

4. Find some accounts of experiences in the Rockies with grizzly beais. 

5. Trace the Great Divide or Continental Divide on your map of North 

America. Find several rivers on the western side of it. 

6. Why would ships visit the mouth of the Columbia River at the time 

of Lewis and Clark’s stay? 

7. What answers do you think President Jefferson would be able to 

give to his own questions about Louisiana after the return of Lewis 
and Clark? 


JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 

THE SCIENTIFIC PATHFINDER 

“ The golden vein which runs through the history of the world 
will follow the iron track to San Francisco .”—Letter to a newspaper. 

I. OPENING THE COUNTRY 

The Lad of the Outdoors.—While General Jackson was 
fighting the Creek warriors in Alabama during the War of 
1812, a Frenchman and his 
Virginian wife were travel¬ 
ing for pleasure in the 
neighboring state of Georgia. 

They loved to ride about in 
their carriage among new 
scenes and new people. 

Often they camped out, 
sometimes among the In¬ 
dians ; it was a free and 
delightful life. In Savannah, 

Mr. and Mrs. Fremont 
stayed for a time, and there 
was born to them a son, John 
Charles. Is it any wonder that this child inherited from such 
parents their love of exploring the great outdoors? 

When he began college at Charleston young Fremont 
stood at the head of his classes; but when he reached the 
senior year his professors noticed a slackening of his 
industry. For days at a time he was absent, sailing, rowing, 
swimming, gunning, picnicking with boy and girl friends. 
When he did appear, his lessons were usually well prepared, 
but to the professors that did not excuse his absence. They 
did not wish to punish such a bright student, but after being 

149 



JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 



150 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


warned several times Fremont persisted in doing as he 
pleased. Against his wish, therefore, the president of the 
college felt obliged to expel his brilliant pupil. 

For three years Fremont supported himself by teaching 
mathematics, for which he had a special liking. He continued 
to exercise in the open air of that mild region and so kept 
his body strong. “Those were the splendid outdoor days,” 
he later wrote. But he pursued his studies also, and became 
a railroad surveyor. He helped to lay out for this new means 
of travel a line through the mountains from Charleston to 
Cincinnati. The summer which Fremont spent in this way 
was delightful. Camp life in a beautiful and wild country 
suited him exactly. “It was a kind of picnic,” he declared, 
“and we were all sorry when it was over.” 

Making a Map and Finding a Wife.—One outdoor task 
after another came to Fremont. Four years of such life in 
the open brought him to the age of twenty-seven, just the age 
of Perry when he won his famous battle. Athletic, good- 
looking and with pleasant manners, he found welcome 
wherever he went. Seven years of travel had given him 
a wonderful amount of experience, and he could tell fasci¬ 
nating stories of adventure. While working for the United 
States Government, he had been given the rank of lieutenant 
of engineers. 

Fremont had been employed by the Government on an 
exploring expedition through the region between the Missis¬ 
sippi and the Missouri Rivers. Now, in 1840, he came to 
Washington to help make the great map which showed the 
party’s discoveries. Senator Benton of Missouri, a leading 
man of the time, took a deep interest in the exploration of 
the West. He often came to Fremont’s office to learn how 
the map was progressing. 

“You have explored north of the Missouri,” said Benton, 
“but what about the land south of that river? There lies a 


JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 


151 


vast stretch of country about which we know little/’ His 
conversations with Senator Benton fixed the* future course of 
Fremont’s life. He saw a vision of himself as the explorer 
of that almost trackless region. 

Benton’s Appeal to Congress-.—Benton was one of the 
few Americans who realized how important it was quickly 
to map out and settle the Far West. “The United States 
must hold the Pacific Coast,” said he; “then our nation will 
be one of the greatest in the world.” Our land then stretched 
as far west as the Rockies, but that which we now call our 
Pacific slope did not belong to us. It was divided into two 
parts. The northern part, or Oregon country, was claimed 
by England as well as by us; the southern part, California, 
was owned by Mexico. Captain Gray, followed by Lewis 
and Clark, had given us a good claim to the Oregon country, 
but we could scarcely say that we had any claim to California. 

“Still,” said Benton, “why not find out the best roads 
across the plains and the Rockies to Oregomand California? 
I am sure that in the end we shall get Oregon. The Mexican 
Government is very weak. It lets California lie wild and 
almost without inhabitants. Perhaps Mexico does not really 
want California. In that case, we ought to prepare for 
developing that fine region.” 

By these arguments Benton managed to get an expedition 
sent out to explore the plains and to mark out the best road 
to Oregon, where many Americans were now settling. No 
better man than Fremont could be found to lead such a party. 

First Exploring Trip. Fremont’s Peak.—On the little 
stern-wheel steamboat which took Fremont up the Missouri, 
the lieutenant noticed a small, slender man a little over thirty, 
with fair complexion and intelligent look. This was Kit 
Carson on his way up from St. Louis. He was one o£ the 
best hunters, and Indian fighters of the West. Fremont en- 


152 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


gaged him as guide, and that was the beginning of a lifelong 
friendship between these two brave and daring men. 

With twenty men Fremont and Carson set off from the 
point where Kansas City now stands. In a few days they 
came upon immense herds of buffalo, looking at a distance 
like groves of trees. Sometimes they crowded around the 



explorers so thickly that for miles on every side nothing but 
their dark shaggy bodies could be seen. Though the Indians 
tried to persuade the whites from entering their buffalo 
country, they were generally friendly. Fremont ate dog in 
the Indian lodges and found it something like mutton, 
“only stickier.” 

At last the party reached South Pass in Wyoming, a 
wide gap in the Rockies through which the Oregon emigrants 
often traveled. Near the Pass Fremont saw a mountain peak 


JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 


153 


which he thought the highest to be found, so he decided to 
climb to its summit. After toiling for two days, he and a 
few of their men reached their goal. 

The top was a ledge of rock not over a yard wide, on 
which only one man at a time could stand. From this perch 
Fremont looked down sheer five hundred feet to a field of 
snow. On one side he viewed the plains which he had 
traversed; on the west his gaze followed the waters which 
flowed to the Pacific among a maze of mountains. He stuck 
a ramrod into a crevice of the rock, and from that unfurled 
the Stars and Stripes. The point he climbed is still called 
Fremont’s Peak, though we now know it is by no means the 
highest of the Rockies. 


II. CALIFORNIA FOR AMERICA 

The Great Salt Lake.—The year after Fremont’s return 
he was sent out again on a much more extensive journey, 
Kit Carson as usual being his guide. On this expedition 
Fremont visited Great Salt Lake, which had been known 
only by the reports of a few hunters. As no one could see 
an outlet to the lake, somewhere on its surface was supposed 
to be a terrible whirlpool which sucked down the water and 
discharged it underground to the ocean. 

In a frail boat Fremont and his men embarked upon the 
clear green waters of this unknown sea. A strong breeze 
dashed spray over them; and a white crust of salt formed 
on their faces, hands and clothes. As the wind increased the 
waves rose high. Should the boat be overturned, the swim¬ 
mers would not sink in that heavy water, but would strangle 
to death. Fremont’s courage was not dampened by the 
danger. He cheered up his comrades and they reached the 
shore again in safety. 

Crossing the Sierra Nevada.—From the Great Basin 
where lies Salt Lake, Fremont pursued his westward way 


154 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


across the Sierra Nevada. It was winter, and so deeply had 
the snow piled itself that the explorers had reason to 
remember the name of the highland. 1 Progress through the 
drifts proved almost impossible; the men had to go ahead 
with mallets and beat a path through the crusted snow for the 
animals. Many of the poor creatures fell over the cliffs and 
were killed. The men ate their dogs and some of their mules. 

When the party reached the Pacific side of the mountains, 
they were all on foot, staggering along and leading their 
weak, thin animals. It required all of Fremont’s power to 
prevent the men from over-eating after their long starvation. 

In sunny California, Fremont for a time stayed at 
Sutter’s Fort, now Sacramento, where the first important 
gold discovery on the Pacific Slope was made. He made it 
his business to find out all he could about the riches of 
California—its mines, its cattle, its fruit, its grain. 

Fremont a Hero of the People.—After more than a year’s 
absence, Fremont appeared to his anxious wife and friends. 
When his report to Congress was published, it astonished the 
country. The geographies of that time represented most of 
the region west of the Mississippi as the “Great American 
Desert.” People also thought that no one except a hunter or 
an Indian could live among the Rockies, and they considered 
the Pacific coast almost worthless. 

Fremont’s report showed that much land valuable for 
farming lay along the rivers of the Great Plains, that many 
fertile valleys were shut between the ranges of the Rockies, 
that Oregon was a country well worth while, but California 
was best of all. The report was read in American homes 
more eagerly than a novel. “The West is wonderful,” said 
our people. “We will open it to settlement, and—we need 
California!” Fremont became the hero of the time. Cong¬ 
ress gave him great praise and made him a captain. 

1 “ Nevada ” means “ snowy.” 



JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 


155 


Off Again for California.—On the very day when 
Fremont handed in his report, Texas, the Lone Star republic, 
ceased to be a separate country of America. It now became 
a state of the American nation. Mexico had already declared 
that if Congress admitted Texas to the Union it would mean 
war. If the United States fought with Mexico the 
Americans could easily drive the few Mexican soldiers out of 
California. The danger was that English ships would seize 
the country before we could take possession. 

Under the guise of another exploration, Captain Fremont 
and Kit Carson, with sixty well-armed and fearless sharp¬ 
shooters, started out once more. Their real purpose was to 
reach California in time to claim the country for the United 
States as soon as news came that war with Mexico had begun. 
Many American settlers were already in the country and 
would help Fremont if necessary. 

As fast as possible the Americans with their saddle- 
horses and pack-mules traveled across the Rockies, passed 
through the Great Basin, crossed the Sierra Nevada and 
descended into California to Sutter’s Fort. The Mexican 
governor warned Fremont to leave, but the captain paid no 
attention to the message. He stayed near San Francisco 
Bay, for he saw that the most important spot of the country 
lay there, and to the entrance to the bay he gave its famous 
name, “The Golden Gate.” 

Fremont and the Winning of California.—The Mexican 
Government now decided to drive all American settlers out 
of California, even though they had paid the Government for 
their land. The Americans were told to be ready to leave 
their homes and property whenever the notice to go should 
arrive, and the Indians were stirred up to annoy the settlers. 

Made bold to resist by the presence of Fremont and his 
band, thirty-three Americans captured one of the chief towns 


156 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


together with the Mexican general who commanded it. The 
settlers of that part of the country then declared that 
California was free from Mexico. As a flag for the new 
republic they painted on a white cotton petticoat, with lamp¬ 
black and pokeberry juice, a large star and a grizzly bear. 

The California revolution spread fast and Fremont 
decided that as a United States Army officer he must take 
command. He hoped in this way to prevent useless fighting. 
The Mexicans and the Americans were already fighting 
along the Rio Grande, but the news of this had not reached 
Fremont’s ears. American warships, however, arrived with 
the news, and raised our flag over San Francisco, which was 
only a tiny village. The commodore of our fleet sent 
Fremont an American flag to be raised above Sutter’s Fort, 
and early the next morning, twenty-one guns saluted as it 
was unfurled. 

Soon English ships came sailing in, but it was too late. 
As the British admiral said, “The Yankees were two weeks 
ahead of us.’’ But the. Mexicans of California were not yet 
conquered. The American naval commander, Commodore 
Stephen Kearny, who announced that he was commander- 
take service under him. Fremont agreed to stay as long as he 
should be needed. After some fighting and much riding 
about by the small forces engaged on each side, the Mexicans 
finally made a treaty of surrender with Fremont. California 
was ours. 

Dismissal from the Army.—Before the treaty of sur¬ 
render was signed, there appeared an American general, 
Stephen Kearny, who announced that he was commander- 
in-chief of all the American forces. There was a dispute on 
that point between the commodore and the general. Each 
claimed the right to direct Fremont, and each had good 
reason on his side. Which should Fremont obey? He 


JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 


157 


decided that since Commodore Stockton had taken the first 
steps toward conquering California he would stick to him. 

When Fremont returned home, therefore, a court-martial 
was held. The court said that Fremont, being a member of 
the army and not the navy, should have obeyed the general 
and not the commodore. Perhaps that was true; but in the 
puzzling circumstances Fremont had done what he thought 
was right. Nevertheless, he was dismissed from the army, 
at the early age of thirty-two. The engineer corps had lost 
its most distinguished man. 

Fremont’s Own Expedition.—A week before Fremont 
was dismissed from the army, gold was discovered near 
Sutter’s Fort (1848). There was a wild rush of Americans 
to the “Land of Gold.” By slow wagon-trains they crossed 
the plains, by ship they reached the Isthmus of Panama, 
crossed, and sailed again up to San Francisco. Many, to 
escape changing ships at Panama, took the voyage around 
Cape Horn. It was high time for a railroad across the 
continent to California. 

Fremont, at his own expense, started out to explore the 
West for a good route. The people of the East doubted that 
a railroad could be built through the Rockies, but the colonel 
had faith. In winter, so that he might see difficulties at their 
worst, he plunged into one of the wildest parts of the 
mountains. The difficulties were there. 

In the snows of the huge mountains and deep gorges the 
party vainly struggled. Frozen and starved, they at last gave 
up the attempt, and turning southward found shelter and 
tender care at the home of Kit Carson in New Mexico. 
Eleven of the thirty men who entered the mountains found 
their graves there; the hundred mules had all perished and the 
the property which they carried was lost. Fremont was left 
almost penniless. He went to California by another route, 


158 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


however, to join his wife, from whom he had been separated 
six out of the nine years since their marriage. Fortunately, 
large amounts of gold were found on a tract of land 
which he had bought, and this unlooked-for wealth restored 
their fortunes. 

Public Services and Death.—When the new state of 
California came into the Union, Fremont was one of her 
first Senators, and had the pleasure of sitting in Congress 
with his father-in-law. He was defeated for a second term 
because he opposed slavery, but the people did not forget the 
brave and high-principled explorer. Five years before our 
Civil War broke out, a new political party, the Republican, 
nominated Fremont as its candidate for President. 

The Republican party opposed slavery. Abraham Lincoln 
and many other men who firmly believed slavery was wrong 
made powerful speeches in Fremont’s favor; but the people 
were not yet ready to elect a President who opposed that evil. 
Fremont lost the election and James Buchanan, the only 
President ever elected from Pennsylvania, received the office. 

Fremont lived many years after the Civil War to see the 
railroad built across the continent and his dear California 
growing into one of the most prosperous parts of the Union. 
It was Fremont’s glory to open up the paths over which the 
iron tracks were laid to unite East and West. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. What schools do you know which prepare a person for college? 

2. If you had visited the various ports of South America with Fremont, 

which one do you think you would have found most interesting? 

3. What is meant by the “engineer corps” of our army? 

4. For what reasons did England make a claim to the Oregon country? 

5. How did Mexico come to own California? 

6. Read about the thrilling adventures of Kit Carson before and after 

he met Fremont. 


JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 


159 


7. Find some peaks of the Rockies that are named after other explorers 

than Fremont. 

8. What additional interesting things can you find about Great Salt 

Lake? 

9. Read about the discovery of gold in 1848 by James Marshall of 

New Jersey. 

10. Which persons encountered the greater hardship—those who 

traveled across the Plains, or those who went by way of the: 
Isthmus ? Why ? 

11. Mention some other men who before the age of thirty had achieved 

something worth while for America. 

12. Read Whittier’s poem about Fremont, “ The Pass of the Sierra.”' 

Which stanza do you like best? 


ELI WHITNEY 


THE MAN WHO MADE COTTON KING 

“ The cotton machine is a thing of unusual value .”—Letter to 

a friend. 


I. ELI, THE CLEVER MECHANIC 

The Cotton Seed Trouble.—What we call “cotton” is the 
fibre, and the fibre clings tightly to the seed. The Southern 
cotton planters just after the Revolution often wished that 



From lies: Leading American Inventors, Henry Holt& Co. 
ELI WHITNEY 


the fibre and the seed did not love each other so well. One 
kind of cotton, it is true, had such long fibres that the planters 
were able to use a machine or “gin ” 1 with rollers which pulled 
the fibre off the seed after a fashion; but that long-fibre 
cotton would grow only along the coast where the breath of 

1 The word “ gin ” is a form of “ engine,” meaning any piece of 
machinery. A clock is an engine in the old sense of the word. 

160 




ELI WHITNEY 


161 


the salt sea could reach it. Most of the Southern cotton was 
the inland or “upland” kind, which had such short fibres that 
the rough roller-machine could not get hold of them. 

Negroes, therefore, had to spend their spare time in the 
evenings, and whenever they could not work in the field, in 
picking the “lint” off the seeds. The work was so slow that 
a slave usually could not pick off more than a pound of lint 
in a day. As a pound of lint would bring about fifteen cents, 
you can see that a slave would scarcely pay for his meals at 
that kind of work. It did not seem as though the South 
would ever make cotton its great crop, but a boy born in the 
North, Eli Whitney, grew up to show the world how that 
was possible. 

The Ingenious Boy.—Eli was born on a Massachusetts 
farm in the year of the Stamp Act. Like many other farm- 
boys, he was handy with tools. Every farm then had its 
little one-story shop where blacksmith and carpenter work 
and general tinkering were done. The Northern farmer 
depended largely on himself. When tools needed mending, he 
mended them; when work in wood or iron had to be done 
about the farm, he expected to do it. 

At school the only study in which Eli stood well was 
arithmetic; but in the shop few grown persons could equal 
him. To mend broken furniture and to find out how 
machinery was constructed delighted his heart. His father 
had a handsome watch which Eli rightly thought was a 
wonderful piece of work, but stern Mr. Whitney would not 
let his son examine the inside. One Sunday Eli played sick, 
so was left behind while the rest of the family went to church. 
This was Eli’s golden chance. He lost not a minute in getting 
hold of the watch and took it all apart. Had anything 
happened to the precious watch, Eli would have had a sorry 
time, but before his father returned, Eli had put it together 
again so skilfully that it ran as well as ever. 

11 


162 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Nails, like watches, were much more valuable then than 
now. They were not made in millions by machinery, as are 
our cut nails and wire nails, but each was hammered out by 
hand upon an anvil. When Eli was fifteen, his father set him 
to making nails, which were scarcer than usual because many 
workmen were in the Revolutionary army. The shop rang 
from morning till night with the clang of Eli’s hammer, and 
he beat out his nails so skilfully and so fast that he earned 
several dollars a day. He wished to save his money for a 
higher education, but fathers then had a right to the earnings 
of their sons until the boys were twenty-one, and it is prob¬ 
able that few of the dollars found their way into Eli’s pocket. 

The College Student. Off to the South.—At last Mr. 
Whitney’s heart softened, and he lent Eli the sum needed. It 
was a happy young man who took the long stagecoach ride 
from central Massachusetts to New Haven, Connecticut, and 
there entered Yale College. At that time students went to 
college at an earlier age than they do now, but even today we 
should consider Eli rather old, to begin his higher education, 
for he was twenty-three. 

Although Eli earned a considerable amount by work 
while he was in college, he always found time to keep up with 
his studies. There were no lazy bones in his body. Both 
head and hands were active. Once he saw a carpenter work¬ 
ing with some tools of a new kind. “Let me try your tools,” 
said he. “No,” answered the workman, “you’ll hurt them” ; 
but at last Eli managed to get the handling of the precious 
articles. The carpenter watched, at first with doubt, but later 
with admiration. “There was a good workman spoiled,” he 
exclaimed, “when you went to college.” College did not take 
away Eli’s skill with his hands, however, while it taught him 
to use his head to better advantage. 

Four years passed by, and at the age of twenty-seven 
Eli graduated. He secured an engagement as teacher of a 


ELI WHITNEY 


163 


school in South Carolina, so, one November day of 1792, 
Whitney left New York in a “packet” or passenger sailing- 
vessel bound for Savannah. It was a trip of a week or more, 
and the people on board came to know each other well. 
Among the passengers was Mrs. Greene, widow of the 
famous general Nathaniel Greene who had died only a few 
years before. 

Whitney at Mulberry Grove.—Though Mrs. Greene, like 
her husband, was a native of New England, her home was 



COTTON-PICKING 


then on a plantation in Georgia, a few miles from Savannah. 
This fine plantation had once belonged to the British 
governor of Georgia, but when the Revolution began the 
governor fled and the state seized his property. General 
Greene fought so hard and so successfully to clear the British 
out of the South that the legislature of Georgia presented to 
him this Mulberry Grove plantation, covering thousands 
of acres. 

With her children, the mistress of Mulberry Grove was 
now returning from a visit to the North. During the voyage 
she enjoyed talking to Whitney, for he was pleasant and well 





164 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


educated. When they arrived at Savannah, she invited the 
young man to spend a few days at Mulberry Grove before he 
went off to his school. This act of kindness on the part of 
Mrs. Greene proved to be a wonderful thing for Eli Whitney 
and for the whole United States. 

Whitney’s visit at Mulberry Grove with its beautiful 
situation along the Savannah River, its broad fields with a 
few cotton-bolls still clinging to the stalks, and its troop of 
fifty negro slaves to do the work, was a novel and interesting 
experience. He stayed longer than he intended, but he did 
not like to stay without making some return for Mrs. Green’s 
hospitality. Pay was out of the question, but he mended 
various articles that needed repair, made toys for the 
children, and for Mrs. Greene a fine embroidery frame which 
delighted her heart. Eli was indeed a most valuable guest of 
the household at Mulberry Grove. 

II. THE MARVELOUS COTTON GIN 

Face to Face with a Great Problem.—A short time after 
Whitney’s arrival Mrs. Greene entertained a party of 
Southern army officers who had served under her husband. 
During their conversation they happened to discuss how rich 
the South might become if only some one would invent a 
cotton-gin which would strip the short fibre from the seeds 
of the upland cotton. Mrs. Greene listened awhile, then 
exclaimed: “Gentlemen, ask my young friend, Mr. Whitney. 
He can make anything!” 

Whitney, who was in another room, was called. In a 
half-joking way the planter-officers explained just what was 
wanted. They really did not expect that the young fellow 
would be able to produce the needed machine. 

Whitney, however, took the matter seriously. After the 
planters had left, he spent many hours considering the 
problem. He went out into the sheds where was stored the 


ELI WHITNEY 


165 


cotton as it came from the fields, and brought in a handful, 
which he closely examined. In a few days he came to Mr. 
Miller, who managed the plantation for Mrs. Greene, and 
said, “I think I can make a machine that will do the work.” 
A little room was given him as a shop, and he began his task. 

The Problem Solved.—First, Whitney fixed wire teeth 
into a board. He found that by pulling the cotton through 
them the troublesome seeds would be left behind. Next he 
made a cylinder with wire teeth. As the cylinder revolved, 
the wires came through slats in a grating. The uncleaned 
cotton slid down against the grating. The wire teeth caught 
the lint and pulled it off the seeds, which were too large to 
pass through the slits. When the lint was pulled off, the seeds 
dropped down out of the way. 

When Whitney turned the crank of the machine to show 
Mrs. Greene and Mr. Miller how it worked, the wire teeth 
began to pull off the cotton fibre just as human fingers would, 
but much faster. In a couple of minutes, however, Whitney’s 
heart sank, for the teeth became clogged with lint and could 
not do the work. That was a bad fault. Several times 
Whitney started the machine, but each trial showed the same 
disappointing result. 

Mrs. Greene thought she would have a little fun at 
Whitney’s expense. Picking up the hearth-brush, she said, 
“Why not use this to clean the wires?” “Thank you for the 
idea,” said Whitney. He added to his machine a revolving 
brush which swept away the lint as it gathered, and the job 
was done. Whitney’s skilful hand-work and intelligent head- 
work had combined to bring about success. 

A planter who saw the machine offered Whitney a 
hundred guineas (five hundred dollars) for his rights in it, 
but Whitney scorned the offer. He thought no more of 
teaching school, for he wished to devote his time to his great 
invention. The next spring Eli built a large cotton-gin, to 


166 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


be turned by one man, which would clean as much cotton 
from the seed as ten men could, and would do it better. By 
using horse-power, one cotton-gin would do the work of 
fifty men. 

Now it was certain that the gin would be a success. The 
firm of Whitney and Miller applied to the United States 
Government at Philadelphia for a patent. Thomas Jefferson, 
who was then Secretary of State, took a great interest in the 
invention and wrote a special letter to Whitney to get more 
information about it. The patent, signed by George Wash¬ 
ington, President, was granted. 

The New Machine Changes the South.—As soon as the 
cotton-gin came into use the South realized what a wonderful 
machine it was. At once cotton became a popular crop. The 
changes that took place in the Southern States, both for good 
and for ill, were marvelous. Cotton, like gold, was always 
desirable. Money flowed into the planters’ pockets. In a 
good year they could make twice as much from cotton as 
from such crops as corn, rice or tobacco. Naturally, the 
South raised cotton and not much else. As the people could 
live easily by raising cotton, they did not care to engage in 
manufacturing. It was left to Eli Whitney’s colder 
Northern home to develop the great factories which in 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island spun and wove the cotton, 
while most Southerners never saw a cotton-mill. 

But the greatest change of all in the South was with 
regard to slavery. At the time when our Constitution was 
adopted, the Southern people were turning against slavery. 
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Patrick Henry, all 
spoke against it. Although they held slaves, they would have 
been glad to see slavery abolished if they had known just how 
to accomplish such a task without disturbing the country. 
Even the states far south, Georgia and South Carolina, dis¬ 
liked slavery. 


ELI WHITNEY 


167 


But with the coming of the cotton-gin there was no more 
Southern talk about freeing the slaves. The slaves were 
needed to raise cotton, and more cotton, and still more cotton. 
Millions of fingers were required to pick the white ripe bolls 
which fed the ever-hungry cotton-gin. Now a slave could 
make much money for his master, so the cotton states eagerly 
bought all the slaves which the states north of them would 
sell. When steam-power finally was used to turn the cotton- 



A COTTON SPINNING MILL 


gin, each machine was equal to the labor of a thousand 
negroes in separating the fibre. The planters could not find 
enough new land or enough slaves to satisfy their desires for 
cotton-raising. Before Whitney died, he saw the cotton- 
planters moving westward and establishing slavery in new 
portions of the United States to keep the cotton-gins working. 

Whitney’s Northern Factory.—Eli Whitney was too 
clever a man, however, to depend on one invention. He left 
the South and set up a factory in New Haven, where he made 
muskets for the United States army. Beginning with only a 
few workmen, he soon enlarged his shop until he had an 
establishment that employed hundreds of men. It is said 
that he was the first manufacturer to make “standard” parts 









168 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


to his guns. Each piece of a gun was made on a machine 
instead of being turned out by hand. If, therefore, a part of 
a gun was broken, a new part, which would be sure to fit, 
could be gotten by sending to the factory. These parts could 
even be kept in stock wherever the guns were used. 

Whitney supplied many of the muskets which our troops 
used in the War of 1812. He carried on the business in New 
Haven until his death in 1825, and made a large fortune. 
Had he lived thirty years more, he would have seen North 
and South ready to fly at each other’s throats on account of 
slavery. Even before his death there were threatenings of 
the storm that came in 1861. It was the cotton-gin that 
separated so widely the cotton-growing South from the 
cotton-manufacturing North with its paid labor by free men. 

Now the storm of the Civil War is over, and the North 
and the South no longer are at odds. Cotton still is the great 
crop of the South, but with this difference, that there are 
hundreds of cotton-mills in the cotton-states to give pros¬ 
perity to the people. Cotton-gins are more numerous and 
busier than ever. The history of Eli Whitney’s cotton-gin 
is really the history of the South since the Revolution. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. What noted soldier of the Revolution was General Greene’s neighbor 

in Georgia? 

2. How would you go about patenting an invention? 

3. Make a United States cotton-map. 

4. Could the world get along well without our American cotton? 

Explain your answer. 

5. What is meant by the saying “ Cotton is King ” ? 

6. Name any twentieth-century things that are made on Whitney’s 

“standard” plan. 


ROBERT FULTON 


THE SUCCESSFUL STEAMBOAT MAKER 

“To America I look for the perfecting of all my plans .”—Letter 
from Paris to a friend. 

I. FROM LANCASTER TO LONDON 

The Boy with Ideas.—During the Revolution Mr. Caleb 
Johnson taught school in the town of Lancaster, Penn¬ 
sylvania, and had among his pupils two girls, Peggy and Belle 
Fulton. “May we bring 
our brother to school to 
morrow, master?” asked 
the girls. “ Robert is 
eight years old, and 
can read and write 
already, for mother has 
taught him.” “Yes, but 
you must not forget the 
week’s fee,” said Master 
Johnson. 

Next morning the 
girls appeared with a 
dark-eyed, curly-headed 
fdlow, tall for his age, 
who thus began a stay of 
several years in the school. Robert proved to be a bright boy 
in his studies when he chose to pay attention, but often and 
often his thoughts wandered far away from the school-room. 
This provoked Master Johnson very much. Once he rapped 
Robert over the knuckles with his ruler, saying, “There, that 
will make you do something!” “Sir,” cried Robert, “I came 

169 



ROBERT FULTON 



170 OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 

here to have something- beaten into my brains, and not into 
my knuckles.” 

If Caleb Johnson could have known what was going on 
in the brain under that curly pate, he would have become 
acquainted with some thoughts wonderful on the part of a 
child. Mrs. Fulton remarked to the teacher that Robert was 
not doing so well in his studies as he should. “Well,” Master 
Johnson answered, “I have done my best, but Robert says his 
head is so full of new ideas that there is no room in it for 
learning from dusty books.” 

Pencil and Paints.—Three things Robert loved to do, and 
unfortunately he could do none of them in school. He loved 
to draw, he loved to study machinery, and he loved to 
make things. 

“Robert Fulton, why are you late at school?” sternly 
asked the teacher one morning. “I have been at Nicholas 
Miller’s shop making a lead-pencil,” explained the lad, “and 
it is the best pencil I ever had.” When Master Johnson 
looked at the pencil he found the lead was hammered out into 
shape so carefully and fitted so neatly into its wooden case 
that he let Robert off without a scolding. 

With his new pencil Robert drew portraits of his brother 
and sisters and other playmates. He copied on paper all the 
machines he was allowed to examine. But the pencil had no 
colors in it, and Robert longed to be able to paint. 

At last one of Robert’s boy friends brought to school the 
rare prize of a paint-box. “Please let me mix some colors,” 
begged Robert. His friend was generous, and let Robert 
try his hand. Then the boys found old dry mussel-shells 
along the creek. “We’ll each paint a picture on the inside of 
a shell,” said the owner of the paint-box, “and see which is 
the better one.” Robert’s picture was so far the better that 
his friend handed over the whole painting outfit. Robert 


ROBERT FULTON 


171 


nearly went wild with joy, and for a long time painted 
pictures in every spare moment. 

Fulton’s Home Town.—The new paint-box, however, did 
not take away Robert’s love for machinery. Lancaster was 
an interesting town for a boy who liked to “watch the wheels 
go around.” When the British were about to capture 
Philadelphia, Congress moved out in a hurry and took up its 
quarters in the Lancaster Court House. That action made 
Lancaster, while Congress remained, the capital of the United 
States. Many of the rifles and blankets for the American 
army were made there under the eye of Congress, and many a 
Continental soldier wore a uniform that was woven and 
tailored in a Lancaster shop. 

At the doors of the large workshops stood guards to keep 
out idle sight-seers, for the labor was so important that it 
was not allowed to stop night or day. Even on Sundays the 
men continued their tasks in order to give the fighters plenty 
of supplies and munitions. One boy, however, was allowed 
to have a free run of the shops, for every one knew that 
Robert Fulton would not hinder the work. 

The Paddle-Wheel Boat,—One of the young fellows who 
worked in the shops, Christopher Gumpf by name, took a 
great liking to inquisitive Robert. One of their pleasures 
was to go fishing on Conestoga Creek near Lancaster with 
Christopher’s father, who owned a flat-bottomed boat. 

The creek was shallow and rocky in many places, and Mr. 
Gumpf used a pole instead of oars. When the three fisher¬ 
men went on an excursion it was the task of the boys to pole 
along the heavy boat. It was no easy task, under the hot sun. 
Robert’s brain shaped a plan to move the boat more easily. 

During a week’s visit to an aunt out in the country 
Robert spent most of his time in making the model of a boat 
to be propelled by paddle-wheels on the sides. It worked, 
but when Robert tried to take the large model home there was 


172 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


no room for it in the carriage, so it was put into the aunt’s 
attic to await Robert’s next visit. Robert never asked for it 
again, but many years later, when his steamboat became 
famous, the model came down from the attic to the parlor, 
where it was shown as the greatest treasure of the house. 

As soon as he returned to Lancaster, Robert, with 
Christopher’s help, went to work upon Mr. Gumpf’s boat, 
and soon the farmers and fishermen on the banks of Cones¬ 
toga Creek smiled to see big splashing paddle-wheels moving 
the craft along. While one person sat and turned the crank 
which operated the wheels, another comfortably steered by 
a rudder. Robert Fulton was already improving navigation. 

Robert Starts Off to Seek His Fortune.—In Lancaster 
lived a clever man named William Henry, who had made a 
paddle-wheel boat before Robert was born. Mr. Henry’s 
boat, however, was to be moved by steam and not by boy- 
power, for Mr. Henry had thought deeply about the uses of 
the steam-engine which James Watt had invented in England. 
Henry’s boat had been tried on Conestoga Creek, but some¬ 
how the machinery did not work well. By some accident the 
boat sank, and Mr. Henry, disappointed, left it to decay. 
Perhaps Robert received his idea of the paddle-wheel boat 
from this inventor, and perhaps he too planned, even at that 
early time of his life, to make a craft that should move 
by steam. 

At any rate, Robert often studied some pictures painted 
by Benjamin West, a famous American artist then living in 
London, who had begun his success in Lancaster. Robert 
had already painted signs for various inns and people had 
admired his work. “I intend to be a portrait painter like 
West/’ announced Robert. 

Accordingly, at the age of seventeen, Robert Fulton said 
good-bye to his widowed mother, who had worked hard to 


ROBERT FULTON 


173 


support him as a child, and took the stage-coach for Phila¬ 
delphia, seventy miles away. It was a large undertaking for 
the young fellow to make a living by pencil and paints in a 
large city, but in one way or another he did so, meanwhile 
studying to become a fine portrait and miniature painter. 

The Successful Artist.—By the time Robert was twenty 
he had gained his end, and was able to devote all his time to 
real art. By his cheerful and happy nature he had made many 
worth-while friends. It became quite the fashion to have 
one’s portrait painted by Robert Fulton, and money came fast 
to the painter. He decided to go over to England to study 
art; hut before he went he wished to make sure that his 
mother would be perfectly comfortable and happy. In the 
western part of Pennsylvania Fulton bought a farm and 
settled his mother, sisters and brother there, where they 
would have a pleasant home and be near relatives. Then, 
with a mind at rest, he sailed for England. 

II. WONDERFUL INVENTIONS 

From Painter to Inventor.—As soon as Fulton, then 
twenty-two, arrived in London, he called at the splendid home 
of Benjamin West and presented to him a letter of introduc¬ 
tion from Franklin. When West had read it, he heartily wel¬ 
comed the young American who had been a Pennsylvania 
farm-boy like himself. “Stay here until you find suitable 
lodgings,” said he, and Fulton gladly remained for a time. 

But notwithstanding West’s help, making a living in a 
foreign country was hard. Fulton soon spent the money he 
had brought with him, and not until he had been in England 
more than four years did he earn enough to get out of debt. 
After all, Fulton was a good painter, but not a great one. 
Perhaps as he learned more about art he was sensible enough 
to see that. At any rate, he gradually left off painting and 
devoted himself to the other beloved occupation—invention. 


174 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Fulton moved to Birmingham, a busy iron-making city 
where he could study all sorts of machines, and lived there 
for many months. He became a “civil engineer,” found 
profitable employment, and patented several machines on 
which he made money. At this time canals were becoming 
popular in England. Fulton thought that for hauling goods 
they much surpassed turnpike roads. To carry canal-boats 
over the mountains he invented inclined planes. 1 

The Idea of a Free Ocean.—Having secured from Eng¬ 
land patents on various inventions to improve canals, Fulton 
went to France to patent and introduce his inventions there. 
France and England were then at war and maintained large 
fleets of warships to destroy each other’s merchant vessels. 

Not only was Fulton an artist and inventor, he was also 
a statesman. Often had he reflected upon the best course 
for nations to follow. “Nations should not be selfish,” said 
he, “for the hurt of one is the hurt of all. Trade on the 
ocean should be free. Wars are great mistakes. Let nations 
spend upon education and useful arts the money which they 
now lavish on fleets and armies.” 

Instead of allowing freedom of trade upon the ocean, 
the nations of Europe were trying to bar each other from it. 
Fulton feared that the United States would feel compelled to 
imitate them in building a great war-fleet which would burden 
the country with taxes for no good end. He set himself to 
invent a cheap way of making warships useless. 

The Torpedo and the Submarine.—Into Fulton’s mind 
came the idea of the moving torpedo. He thought that by 
clockwork a machine carrying a quantity of powder could be 
sent through the water to blow up a vessel. “If we can thus 
destroy warships far more easily than they can be built, per- 

1 Such planes may still be seen on at least one canal in America, 
the Morris and Essex, which crosses northern New Jersey. 



ROBERT FULTON 


175 


haps the nations will stop building them,” he said. But 
Fulton could not make his torpedo move as he wished. Then 



FIRST SUBMARINE VESSEL THAT CROSSED THE OCEAN 

he invented a “plunging-boat” which could sail upon the 
surface or dive below it, and by this means he hoped to 
fasten torpedoes on the bottoms of ships until the'torpedoes 










176 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


exploded. Considering that it was such an untried invention, 
the diving boat worked well. Fulton called it “Nautilus.” 2 

The cigar-shaped “Nautilus” was small, only twenty feet 
long, and was moved by a propeller whose power came from 
a crank turned by the crew. Guided by a compass, the 
“Nautilus” could go in any direction. On one occasion 
Fulton remained in it beneath the water for six hours, taking 
in fresh air through a little tube which could scarcely be 
noticed by any one upon the surface of the ocean. He had 
also a tank containing compressed air which he could use 
as needed. 

Fulton promised the French naval officers that by the aid 
of the “Nautilus” he would blow up with “submarine bombs” 
the British ships that were then blockading the French coast. 
The English, however, got wind of Fulton’s intention, and 
though he watched for a whole summer, their ships kept at 
a safe distance. The French officials were disappointed and 
finally dropped the matter. 

The Steamboat Partnership.—At this time Fulton, who 
was becoming famous, met Robert R. Livingston, a rich man 
of New York, who had gone over to represent the United 
States in France. Livingston was greatly interested in steam¬ 
boats ; in fact, he already had built one near his home on the 
Hudson, but it had proved a failure. The two men discussed 
the best ways of constructing steamboats, and Livingston 
was so pleased with Fulton’s energy and cleverness that he 
thought, “Here is the man I am looking for.” 

Fulton and Livingston agreed to join forces to make a 
successful steamboat. The idea of the steamboat was nothing 

2 The real Nautilus is a kind of cuttle-fish with a shell. By drawing 
in or letting out air it can sink or swim at its pleasure. Jules Verne, 
in his wonderful story “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” 
makes Captain Nemo call his submarine the Nautilus. 



ROBERT FULTON 


177 


new, as many men in Europe and in the United States 
had actually built boats moved by steam. For some reason 
or other, however, the steamboats had never come up 
to expectations. 

The combination of Fulton and Livingston, however, 
strongly promised success. Fulton’s knowledge of machinery 
was far greater than Livingston’s, but Livingston had wealth 
and influence which could bring the invention to public 
notice. Fulton did the calculating, planning and directing, 
and by the spring of 1803 the strange-looking boat with its 
machinery exposed to view floated at a wharf on the 
Seine River. 

The day was set for a trial trip, but the night before the 
trip was to be made a great storm broke over Paris, and 
dashed the water of the river into high waves. At daybreak 
the watchman in charge of the boat rushed into Fulton’s bed¬ 
room. “Monsieur!” he cried, “the boat has broken into 
pieces and lies at the bottom of the river!” This was only 
too true. As the waves tossed it about, the light hull had 
broken apart. 

Fulton hastily dressed and rushed to the spot. Nothing 
of the boat could be seen, but he immediately hired workmen, 
and labored along with them for twenty-four hours, soaking 
wet, without food or rest, until the precious engine and the 
other machinery were recovered from their muddy resting- 
place. At the end of that time Fulton was so exhausted that 
a cold settled on his lungs, which were weak forever after— 
but he had saved the valuable parts of the craft. 

Again Fulton directed the building of the boat, and in a 
few months had the pleasure of seeing it move by its side 
paddle-wheels against the current about as fast as a man 
could walk. The invention was successful. Did Fulton 
think then, I wonder, about the paddle-wheel boat in which 

12 


178 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


he and his chum Christopher had navigated the Conestoga? 
Livingston now wrote to his friends in New York, telling 
them of the success of the steamboat. Through their 
influence New York passed a law which gave the partners 
the sole right to navigate steamboats on the waters of the 
state. They were to have this right for twenty years pro¬ 
vided they would at once build a steam vessel which should 
travel at least four miles an hour against the current of 
the Hudson. 

Fulton Refuses a Great Offer. Return Home.—Just then 

the English government, which knew of Fulton’s torpedoes 
and submarine boat, thought that it would be well to ask him 
to cross the channel to England and show what he could do 
along those lines; and Fulton agreed. England called herself 
“the mistress of the seas.” It could not be expected that she 
would sympathize with the inventor’s plan of driving all war¬ 
ships off the ocean. For keeping his invention secret, how¬ 
ever, so that no other country could destroy the great British 
navy, England was willing to pay him well. Fulton was an 
American first, last, and all the time. He declared, “I never 
will consent to keep my inventions secret should the United 
States need them. Were you to grant me twenty thousand 
pounds a year, I would sacrifice all to the safety and indepen¬ 
dence of my country.” 

Affairs with England came to no result on account of 
Fulton’s refusal, but as he had made a contract with the 
government he received for his experiment a fair sum of 
money. Now he was ready to return to his native land. How 
different was his return from his departure nearly twenty 
years before! He went away from his country an unknown 
young fellow with two hundred dollars in his pocket; he 
returned a famous man of middle age with prospects of 
making a fortune. 


ROBERT FULTON 179 

III. SUCCESS AND FAME 

The “Clermont.”—No rest did Fulton wish to take, for 
he was anxious to begin work on his American steamboat. 
President Thomas Jefferson asked him to make a report on 
a certain canal, but Fulton replied that he was too busy to 
undertake the affair. The new steamboat soon began to take 
shape. The engine had already been bought in England. 
By the contract Livingston was not supposed to advance any 
more money, and the expense of finishing the vessel fell upon 
Fulton, who had to borrow from his friends. 

At last the boat was completed, and exactly four years 
after Fulton’s French steamboat had moved up and down the 
Seine, his American steamboat made its trial trip on the East 
River at New York. Fulton probably chose the date so 
as to celebrate on the same day the first trip of each vessel. 
The steamboat’s name was the Clermont, in honor of 
Livingston’s beautiful country home on the banks of the 
Hudson a few miles south of the city of Hudson. 

After a week more of preparation the Clermont was 
ready for a start in earnest. On a beautiful, clear day in 
August, 1807, about forty invited guests, almost all relatives 
or intimate friends of Livingston and Fulton, assembled at 
the steamboat wharf on the North River. 3 The guests saw 
a queer-looking craft, long and narrow, with sides almost 
straight up and down. The paddle-wheels on the side were 
uncovered, and the English engine, with its boiler set in 
masonry, stood open to the weather. On the two masts of 
the Clermont sails could be hoisted in case the Hudson tide 
proved too strong for the engine. 

3 The Hudson River at New York, ever since the days of the old 
discoverers, has been called the North River, the Delaware being the 
South River. The name North River distinguishes the Hudson from 
the East River, which leads into Long Island Sound. 



180 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


A Double Triumph.—The signal to start was given. The 
deck-hands threw pine wood into the furnace; smoke and 
sparks gushed from the tall, thin stack, and the boat began 
to move. Before she passed from sight of the wharf, how¬ 
ever, the Clermont stopped. “I told you so,” whispered 
some of the guests. “It was a foolish scheme.” But Fulton 
stepped up to a place where all could see his tall form. “I do 
not know what is the matter,” said he, “but if you will be 
quiet and grant me half an hour, I will either repair the 



ROBERT FULTON’S STEAMBOAT, “ THE CLERMONT, '* 1807 


trouble in that time or give up the trip.” In less than the 
half hour Fulton had discovered what was wrong and the 
Clermont went on. 

Happiness now prevailed on board. Though progress 
was only about five miles an hour, it seemed swift to the 
delighted ladies and gentlemen. As the sun dropped low 
the vessel passed through the beautiful Highlands, While the 
party sang Fulton’s favorite songs they were delighted to 
hear the music echo from the mountains rising steeply out of 
the river. 

Fulton was probably the happiest person on board. 
Instead of complaining now or doubting, every one paid him 
compliments and listened eagerly to his words. Livingston 
had told the guests, “This will be something to remember all 









ROBERT FULTON 


181 


your lives.” They found his promise was correct, and they 
knew that to Fulton must be given the chief honor. One of 
the ladies afterward said, “There were many distinguished 
men and many fine-looking men on board the Clermont, 
but Robert Fulton surpassed them all.” 

Night came on, but still the Clermont went on her way, 
resembling, so it was remarked, “a backwoods saw-mill 
mounted on a scow and set on fire.” Flames from her stack 
shot high into the darkness, and the craft that met the 
Clermont could not understand what was this roaring, 
fiery monster that moved against wind and tide. Some of 
the timid sailors ran their boats on shore and took to the 
woods in fright; some who had not time to do this retreated 
below deck, shut themselves in, and let their vessels drift as 
they might until the terrible danger passed. On the river 
bank many of those who viewed the sight fell upon their 
knees and prayed for protection, against this dreadful thing. 

At one o’clock in the morning, as the Clermont drew 
near Clermont, forty miles below Albany, Livingston, as a 
crowning touch to the voyage, announced the engagement to 
Fulton of one of the ladies on board, his cousin Harriet 
Livingston. Had the Clermont proved a failure, the 
announcement might never have been made, for Harriet’s 
father was rich and proud, and no unsuccessful man could 
hope to marry his beautiful daughter. It was a double 
triumph, and the greatest day in Fulton’s life. 

Passenger Travel Begins. “Fulton’s Mill.”—The party 
broke up at Clermont, but at nine o’clock the next morning 
Fulton and Livingston again went on board, and reached 
Albany as the afternoon drew to a close. The governor of 
New York and a multitude of citizens came to the wharf to 
view the wonderful boat. 

Fulton hung a sign over the side of the Clermont, 
announcing that on the next day she would start back to New 


182 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


York. The fare he charged for the one hundred and fifty 
miles was seven dollars, the regular amount demanded by the 
passenger sloops. Only five persons had courage enough to 
try the new means of transportation. 

Two weeks later the Clermont made her first regular 
trip up the Hudson. Fourteen brave passengers went in her, 
though one of them was warned by a doubting Quaker 
friend. “Wilt thou risk thy life in such a concern?” ques¬ 
tioned the Quaker. “I tell thee she is the most fearful wild¬ 
fowl living, and thy father ought to restrain thee.” 

On this trip the passengers heard a shout from a rowboat 
alongside. In the boat was a miller, hair and clothes dusty 
with meal. He had evidently missed seeing the Clermont 
on her previous voyages or even hearing of her, and now he 
had rushed away from his mill on shore, thinking that 
another mill with its paddle-wheels was splashing upstream. 
“I never thought I would see a mill go up the river,” said he. 
When he climbed aboard, a jolly passenger offered to show 
him over “Mr. Fulton’s mill.” “But where are the grind¬ 
stones?” queried the inquisitive miller. “That the master 
has not yet told us,” answered the passenger, as he pointed 
to Fulton. “But wait till we come back from Albany with 
our load of corn, and you will see the meal fly.” How 
everybody laughed as the simple-minded miller rowed back 
to shore! 

Steamboats Multiply. Fulton’s Home.—During the 
winter Fulton enlarged the Clermont, and the next season 
she cleared sixteen thousand dollars. Now water-travel by 
steam-power had regularly begun in America, several years 
before Europe made real use of it. Soon Fulton had three 
steamboats in operation. The new vessels were called the 
Car of Neptune and the Paragon. 

Other rivers presently found their waters invaded by the 
steamboat. Four years after the Clermont began her 


ROBERT FULTON 


183 


voyage, a steamboat made the journey from Pittsburgh to 
New Orleans. The many emigrants to the West found their 
travel made safe, swift and sure by the steamboat. After a 
time an American steamboat, the Savannah , was the first 
to cross the stormy Atlantic. 

With the profits of his New York steamboats Fulton 
made a home for himself and his lovely wife in New York 
City. There, on Battery Place, he could look out over the. 
sparkling waters of the harbor. The house, as we might 
expect of an artist's home,, was hung with many pictures. 
The guests were always served from a dinner set of fine 
china, bearing the coat of arms of the United States. This 
was a gift from his friend, Thomas Jefferson. 

The Great Steam-Battery. Its Builder Dies.—When the 
War of 1812 began, the commanders of the British frigates 
remembered Fulton’s torpedoes and his submarine boat. 
They approached the American coast with great caution, and 
tried to learn where the inventor spent his time. At first 
Fulton was too busy perfecting his great invention to plan 
ways of attacking the English, but toward the end of the war 
he designed the first steam war-vessel in the world. 

This vessel was really a floating battery, carrying heavy 
guns which discharged red-hot shot to set the opposing ships 
on fire. The sides of the wooden craft were almost five feet 
thick, so that it was nearly impossible for shot to pierce them. 
Doubtless, this vessel would have had great effect in keeping 
hostile ships away from that part of America, but before it 
was finished, war had ended. 

Fulton never saw the completed vessel. During the late 
winter he visited the works, where his trained men were build¬ 
ing the marvelous floating fort. For three hours he stood in 
the cold and rain. When ill from this exposure, he became 
so anxious to know the progress of his battery that he 
ventured on a carriage ride to the works. Pneumonia set in, 


184 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


and in a few days Fulton had ceased to live. The law¬ 
makers of the state wore mourning for six weeks. 

Fulton’s True Fame.—People think of Fulton mainly in 
connection with the history of the steamboat, and many 
have credited him with being its inventor. As we have seen, 
Fulton neither invented nor built the first steamboat. It is 
his fame that through his own industry and the help of his 
friend Livingston he made the steamboat successful as a 



A MODERN STEAMSHIP 


means of travel. Few persons, however, have heard of 
Fulton’s endeavors to improve canals and extend them or of 
his many inventions. His plans to do away with ocean war¬ 
fare and with the burden which great navies lay upon the 
people are almost unknown. 

Torpedoes and submarine boats have been vastly im¬ 
proved since Fulton’s day, and the Great War saw their 
common use. They have not yet driven warships off the 
seas, as Fulton hoped. The jealousy of nations still in¬ 
creases fleets and armies. But the day may yet arrive when 
the only fleets of the world will be those of peaceful com¬ 
merce, and when the money which nations formerly wasted 






ROBERT FULTON 


185 


on rival warships shall be applied to better purposes. On 
that day Fulton’s dream will be fulfilled. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. How does the lead-pencil you use differ from that which little Robert 

Fulton made? 

2. Major John Andre was an English prisoner in Lancaster while 

Fulton lived there. What sad news about Andre might Robert 
have read a few years later in the Lancaster papers? 

3. Find out what kinds of machines Fulton invented while living in 

England. 

4. What other American inventor received his chance in life through 

old-time hospitality? 

5. How did the Clermont differ from some of the river steamboats that 

you know? 

6. What are the special meanings of “ Car of Neptune ” and “ Paragon ” ? 

7. What new things about submarine boats could Fulton learn today 

if he revisited this world? 

8. Do you think Fulton was right when he imagined that torpedoes and 

submarines could drive navies off the ocean? Explain your answer. 


THE MEN OF THE FIRST RAILROADS 


The Railway Idea.—While in Jefferson’s time most 
persons in the United States thought that canals were just 
the thing for conveying freight and passengers, some were 
still unsatisfied. They said, “Can’t we find some means of 
transportation even better than canals? The smaller the 
smooth surface on which a load glides along, the more easily 
it moves. Let us try railways on land.” 

Accordingly railways were built. The rails were of 
wood, the ties often of stone, and horses pulled the little 
cars. Two years after the Clermont made her first voyage, 
Thomas Leiper constructed such a railway to carry stone 
from his quarry along Crum Creek, near Philadelphia, to the 
boat-landing a mile away. It was thought a wonderful sight. 

More wonderful yet to the people of our young nation 
was the three-mile railway at the Quincy quarry in 
Massachusetts. The granite for the famous Bunker Hill 
monument was hauled over this road. Soon after the Quincy 
railroad was finished, the Mauch Chunk “gravity” railroad 
in Pennsylvania, which is still in use, began to carry coal 
from Summit Hill to the Lehigh River, nine miles away. 

Meanwhile Englishmen had been laying down railways 
or “tramways” from their many coal-mines, and had made 
a great discovery. Steam, they found, could be used instead 
of horses to pull the cars. In these days that discovery 
seems very simple. If steam propelled vessels, if a stationary 
steam-engine pumped water and raised coal out of mines, 
why could not steam make cars move? Simple as the idea 
now seems, the use of steam as a motive power on land was 
a wonderful discovery. It enabled man to travel both far 
and fast and to carry with him enormous loads. 

186 


MEN OF THE FIRST RAILROADS 


187 


The Baltimore and Ohio Company.—One day Philip 
Thomas, a Quaker banker of Baltimore, received a letter 
from his brother in London. The letter told of a new rail¬ 
road which was going to be built in England, and praised the 
scheme highly. Meeting his friend George Brown, Mr. 
Thomas mentioned the railroad. The two business men 
agreed that an American railroad through the mountains to 



STAGE-COACH FROM BALTIMORE TO WASHINGTON 


the West, over Washington’s old trail along the Potomac, 
would be of great advantage to Baltimore. 

That evening, twenty-five of the most important men of 
Baltimore, invited by the two friends, met in Brown’s home. 
After thoroughly discussing the necessity of bringing from 
Ohio directly to Baltimore such products as wheat and wool, 
they decided to form the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
Company. Mr. Thomas was elected president and Mr. 
Brown treasurer. This was the first company in America to 
plan a railroad for general transportation, and it is still 
in business. 





188 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


A Famous Fourth.—When the books of the new com¬ 
pany were opened to receive subscriptions for stock, there 
was such a rush that the company could have sold four times 
as many shares as it had offered. Some of the money was 
spent immediately to pay engineers.- Some of the engineers 
were sent to find the best path to the Potomac, others were 
dispatched to England to examine the railroads there. It 
was over a year, however, before they finished their reports 
and their plans. 

At last, in 1828, the company began work. On the 
Fourth of July, the birthday of great events in America, 
Baltimore had the biggest parade in its history. The 
paraders marched to a spot on the western edge of the town, 
where the cornerstone of the Baltimore and Ohio track was 
to be laid. 

The honor of the day fell to white-haired Charles Carroll, 
of Carrollton. The rich Mr. Carroll, now ninety years old, 
was the last of the signers of the Declaration of Indepen¬ 
dence. On that account he was the best known and most 
respected citizen of Baltimore. As he was also one of those 
who had formed the railway company, it was doubly fitting 
that he should be the centre of attention. 

After Charles Carroll had seen the stone properly placed 
and had smoothed off the mortar with his silver trowel, he 
turned to Mr. Thomas, the president, saying, “I consider 
this such an important act of my life that it is second only to 
the signing of the Declaration.” He was right, for America 
could not have reached her present greatness were it not for 
her railroads. 

Horses or Locomotives.—The railroad continued to be 
very popular. Every one seemed to wish to help. Some 
citizens gave to the railroad the land on which it was built; 
some gave the stone to make a foundation (ballast) for the 
track; another man contributed a piece of ground for a 


189 


MEN OF THE FIRST RAILROADS 

station at Ellicott’s Mills, thirteen miles west of Baltimore. 
In return for such favors, the company put on the unfinished 
track a couple of rough horse-cars and let every one ride a 
short distance to get the new experience. 

Three years after the Baltimore and Ohio Company had 
been formed, the railroad was ready for business. Morning, 
noon and night, on every week-day, a train or “brigade” of 
three cars, drawn by horses, made the trip to Ellicott’s Mills 
and back. The first cars were entirely open; sun and rain 
beat down upon the passengers; but there was considerable 
travel. Still, the directors of the company saw that horses 
would never furnish speed and power enough to make the 
railroad a true success in covering long distances. 

“I hear that George Stephenson of England builds good 
steam locomotives. Let us buy some,” said one of the 
directors. “Yes, he does, but I hear also that his locomotives 
cannot get around curves such as we have on our road,” 
answered another. The directors did not know what to do; 
but a helper appeared. 

“Tom Thumb” Wins and Loses.—Peter Cooper, from 
New York, had bought a large piece of ground along the line 
of the railroad. Unless the road succeeded he would lose 
money. When he heard that the directors were perplexed, he 
wanted, for his own sake, to aid them. Mr. Cooper owned 
a foundry in Baltimore, and was as handy and clever as Eli 
Whitney. “I think I can make you a locomotive that will pull 
your cars and go around those curves,” said he. In a carriage- 
maker’s shop he built a locomotive that was better than 
Stephenson’s machines, but it was so tiny that he called it 
“Tom Thumb.” Actually it was only about twice as long as 
a trackman’s hand-car of to-day. 

One August day Mr. Cooper invited the directors to take 
a ride behind “Tom, Thumb.” With six men on the engine 
and thirty-six more on a car attached, they went out to 


190 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Ellicott’s Mills, uphill, in about an hour and a quarter. Com¬ 
ing back they went at a speed that the passengers considered 
marvelous. “Why, in some places we go at the rate of 
eighteen miles an hour,” cried they, “and the lightest stage¬ 
coaches do no more than thirteen.” Several of the directors 
pulled out their note-books and wrote in them to show how 
smoothly they rushed along. “You cannot do that in a stage¬ 
coach,” smiled they. 

But pride had a fall. As they came half-way to Baltimore, 
a light coach holding a dozen people and drawn by a fine gray 



After Brown’s “ History of the First Locomotive.” Courtesy of D. Appleton & Co. 

THIS DRAWING SHOWS PETER COOPER’S “ TOM THUMB ” LOCOMOTIVE IN THE 
ACT OP PASSING A HORSE-DRAWN COACH ON PARALLEL TRACK. THE RACE 
TOOK PLACE ON THE BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILWAY FROM THE “ RELAY HOUSE ” . 

TO BALTIMORE, AUG. 28 , 1830 

horse stood waiting on a track laid parallel to that of the rail¬ 
road for some distance. One of the stage-coach companies 
in Baltimore had sent out the horse to race with the 
new locomotive. 

Off from the station went the two rivals, animal and 
machine. Soon the engine drew ahead of the horse. How 
those serious directors yelled then in glee! But just as the 
driver was about to give up, something happened to the loco¬ 
motive machinery. The train slackened speed, and the horse 
dashed past it. Then it was the turn of the coach passengers 
to shout. In spite of the accidental victory of the horse, 
however, it is really the locomotive that has won the race. 









MEN OF THE FIRST RAILROADS 


191 


The Triumph of the Iron Horse.—Four years after “Tom 
Thumb” proved his value, the railroad owned three loco¬ 
motives. Most of the freight and some of the passengers 
were still drawn by horses. The cars had been made to copy 
the old stage-coaches. They held six passengers inside, and 
several could find room on top. In bad weather the inside 
passengers had the best of it, for they could pull down leather 
curtains over the windows to shelter themselves. 

By this time other railroads had sprung up all over the 
eastern part of the United States. The Americans soon set 
themselves to improve as well as to extend them. In the rail¬ 
roads, they saw, lay the future of the country. With each 
year the trains went faster and cars grew more comfortable. 
Each year saw the old railroads being lengthened and new 
companies being formed. The “railroad age” had begun. 

As each new invention appears, some good old thing is 
laid aside. When railroads became numerous, canals began 
to lose their importance. Now few canals are left in our 
country, but many miles of new railroad track are laid every 
year. We think that a person who lives far from the rail¬ 
road is out of the world. The “iron horse” of today carries 
us to our journey’s end so swiftly, so comfortably, and so 
safely that we think little of these great benefits. It is good 
for us to look back to the days when railroad travel was new, 
uncomfortable and dangerous, so that we may measure the 
wonderful change in travel that has come about in less than 
a century. 

1. What is meant by a “gravity” railroad? 

2. What happened to Washington on “his old trail” to the West? 

3. How many kinds of “engineers” are needed in railroading? 

4. Tell the story of the first transcontinental railroad. 

5. What additional improvements in railroading can you mention? 



CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 

THE MAN WHO MADE AMERICA THE GRANARY OF THE WORLD 



“ I expect to die in the harness, because this is not the world for 
rest .”—Conversation with a Virginia friend. 

Cyrus and His Farmer-Doctor.—It was summer-time in 
Virginia. With hot weather came the dreadful yellow fever, 
and even the farm-houses in the higher country west of the 

Blue Ridge lost many of 
their people. At Walnut 
Grove farm Robert 
McCormick’s little boy 
Cyrus, five years old, lay 
very ill. 

An old-fashioned doc¬ 
tor came to Cyrus’s bed¬ 
side. “I will bleed the 
lad,” said he. “Oh, no, 
you won’t, doctor,” said 
Robert McCormick. “You 
have bled other people, and 
they died. I’ll have no 
more bleedings.” 

“But every doctor 
bleeds people for the 
fever,” answered the as¬ 
tonished physician. “Well, 
then, I’ll be the doctor,” 
replied Mr. McCormick. 
Hot baths and hot herb-teas were the medicines the sensible 
farmer used, and soon Cyrus was a well boy again. Had this 
little fellow died that year at the close of the War of 1812, 
the world would have missed one of its great inventors. 

192 


From lies: Leading American Inventors, 
Henry Holt & Co. 

CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 




CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 


193 


Cyrus Wishes for a Reaper.—On his father’s land there 
was plenty of work to do; and Cyrus did his full share. He 
swung a scythe in the hay-field and cut the wheat with 
a cradle. 1 

Though Cyrus was a strong, tall fellow, he found that the 
handling of the heavy cradle under the burning sun was no 
joke. Often as he slashed down the yellow grain Cyrus 
wished for a reaping-machine which would do the task in an 
easier way. 

The idea of such a machine was not new in the Mc¬ 
Cormick family. Ever since Cyrus was seven, he had known 
that his father wanted to invent a reaper. For fifteen years 
Robert McCormick planned and tinkered in his blacksmith 
shop to make a machine that when pulled by horses would 
work faster than any set of farm-hands. 

The Son Builds on the Father’s Work.—While Robert 
McCormick worked on his reaper, and failed, and worked 
again, Cyrus became a young man, tall and big and straight. 
The neighbors admired Cyrus, as on Sundays, in his broad¬ 
cloth coat and tall beaver hat, he led the church singing. Like 
his father, Cyrus was of a mechanical turn of mind, and 
loved to work on making things. Sometimes he helped Mr. 
McCormick with the reaping machine; but although Cyrus 
had good ideas about machinery, it does not appear that his 
father ever asked Cyrus for advice. 

When Cyrus was twenty-two, Robert McCormick 
brought out in triumph his reaper. '‘The neighbors have 
laughed at me for fifteen years,” said he, “but now I will 
show them!” Into a field of grain he drove the machine. Oh, 
yes, it cut the wheat very well; but it left tangled stalks behind 
it. “Your reaper is no good,” said those who watched. “No 
one can ever straighten out that mess.” Robert McCormick 

*A grain-cradle is a scythe with a wooden framework attached to 
it so that the cut grain can be laid out straight as it falls. 

13 



194 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


took a long look at the tangled grain. Then he drove the 
reaper back to his barn. He was through with inventing. 

Cyrus, however, had his own notion as to the best way 
to make the reaper successful. Since his father had given up, 
the road lay clear for him to try his luck. He began to alter 
the design of Mr. McCormick’s reaper in a number of ways. 
For several weeks he labored hard to complete his machine 
before the harvest should be over. Very nearly too late was 
he, but one day in July Cyrus brought out his reaper and tried 
it on a field of wheat which his father had left standing for 
his benefit. 

As the horse pulled the reaper forward, a wooden reel 
revolved and swept the stalks down toward a cutting-blade 
which shot back and forth. The keen V-shaped teeth of the 
blade sheared off the grain; it fell evenly upon a platform 
from which it was raked off by John Cash, who helped Cyrus. 
Here at last was the successful reaper so desired by many a 
weary man. It was a proud day for Cyrus. He had carried 
out his father’s great idea. 

The Lexington Victory.—A few days after the reaper 
had proved its value, Cyrus gave a public exhibition on a 
neighboring farm. He had made a few changes for the 
better in the machine, and it worked well. With two horses 
to pull the reaper, he cut six acres of oats in one afternoon; 
that is, his invention did the work of a half-dozen men. The 
beholders could scarcely believe their eyes. 

The next summer Cyrus took his machine to Lexington, 
the largest town within reach. Several hundred people were 
present to watch the curious affair. As the reaper came 
along the road a negro held tightly to the bridle of each horse 
which drew it, for the poor beasts were almost scared to 
death by its terrible rattling. One of the women who, hear¬ 
ing the noise, looked out of the window, said, “I thought 
it was a right smart curious sort of a thing, but it wouldn’t 


CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 


195 


come to much.” And at first that was just what the crowd at 
Lexington thought. 

The field Cyrus tried to reap was hilly, and the machine 
bounced about so much that more grain shook out of the 
heads of wheat than stayed in. “This won’t do,” said the 
farmer who owned the wheat. “Stop your horses!” The 
crowd laughed, but William Taylor, more intelligent, came 
to the help of Cyrus. “I’ll give you a fair chance, young 
man,” he remarked. “That field of wheat on the other side 
of the fence belongs to me. Pull down the bars and 
cross over.” 

Glad of the friendly offer, Cyrus accepted it. The, second 
field was much more level, and before sundown he was able 
to cut the same amount of grain as he had done the previous 
year. As the last of the six acres fell, the crowd cheered 
heartily. Then the reaper was driven into Lexington and 
placed on show in the court-house square. A noted teacher of 
the town studied it long and carefully, and finally called out, 
“This machine is worth a hundred thousand dollars.” That 
sum seemed immense to the hearers, but it was small com¬ 
pared with the riches which the reaper finally brought to 
Cyrus, and, more than that, to his whole country. When 
the big young fellow came back home he felt that he had won 
a great victory. Best of all was the praise from his father, 
“It makes me feel proud to have a son do what I could 
not do.” 

Cyrus Refuses to Give Up.—Cyrus now set to work to 
make the reaper perfect. “His whole soul is wrapped up in 
his reaper,” the neighbors smiled. Once the thought came to 
him, “There is so much grain to cut in this big country of 
ours that I may—perhaps—make a million dollars from my 
invention.” But though the idea crossed his mind, it seemed 
as impossible as reaching the moon. 

In the Lexington Union newspaper Cyrus advertised his 


196 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


reapers for sale at fifty dollars apiece; but no one offered to 
buy. Even those who had seen the machine do its work did 
not care enough about it to invest. “Give up the idea of 
making your fortune by the reaper,” said Cyrus’s family. 
“Here is a farm for you,” said his father. “Make a living 
on that.” 

Cyrus took the farm, lived there in a little log house with 
a couple of old negro servants, and cultivated the land. He 
did not give up his dearly loved reaper, however, but secured 
a patent on it. For a year he worked the farm; then, as little 
money came in, he tried another business. America was 
beginning to use iron in considerable amounts, so Cyrus 
persuaded his father to become partner with him in an iron- 
furnace. For awhile the iron trade went on well; then came 
hard times, and the McCormick partners failed. Cyrus gave 
up his farm to pay their debts. He was eight years older 
than when he began to make reapers, he had lost all his 
property, and he had not sold a single machine. 

Not discouraged, Cyrus again gave a demonstration of 
the reaper. This time it was near the town of Staunton, 
where, later, President Woodrow Wilson was born. Again 
the people applauded, but did not buy. The next spring, 
though, a man who had seen the reaper at Staunton actually 
came and bought one. Soon a second farmer was bold enough 
to invest his money in a reaper. Business had begun. 

The next year Cyrus McCormick sold not a single 
machine, but the year following (1842), by much talking and 
traveling, he disposed of seven. Two years later fifty orders 
came in, and instead of farming he had to spend all his time 
in his reaper shop. Soon people began to pay for the right 
to sell the machine in various parts of Virginia. Several 
farmers in what was then the West, near the Mississippi 
River, wrote for “Virginia Reapers.” McCormick’s inven¬ 
tion had found its place in the agriculture of the country. 


CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 197 

II. THE WHEAT EMPIRE OF THE WEST 

The Virginia Reapers for the Prairies.—When the 
machines for the Western farmers were made, the problem 
was to get them to the buyers. The seven reapers were 
loaded on wagons (1844) and were taken to Scottsville, not 
far from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello home. From 
Scottsville they went by canal to Richmond, then by vessel 
down the James River and around Florida to New Orleans. 
Thence on a river steamer the “ Virginia Reapers ” traveled 
up the Mississippi and the Ohio to Cincinnati. From that 
city, various long roads still had to be traversed before the 
machines reached the farmers whom they were to serve. 
Four of the seven farmers who bought those reapers did not 
get them in time for the harvest of that year, so two of the 
disappointed men would not pay McCormick at all. 

As long as no railroads crossed the mountains it clearly 
would not be of much benefit to make reapers in Virginia for 
sale to the West. One of McCormick’s friends said to him, 
“Cyrus, why don’t you go West to manufacture your reaper, 
where the land is level, labor is scarce, and you will be close 
to the farmers who in future will be your best buyers ?’’ 

Cyrus thought well of his friend’s advice, but determined 
to look about for himself before taking any action. He put 
into his money-belt three hundred dollars, and set out to view 
the best wheat lands of the United States. Up through 
Pennsylvania he rode to western New York, then continued 
his stage-coach journey back along Lake Erie to Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. Still on he went to Iowa 
and Missouri. As he traveled, he plainly saw that on those 
wide, flat prairies of the Middle West the reaper would be far 
more useful than on the more hilly country of the East. The 
many immense grain-fields of the pioneers seemed to cry 
aloud for the coming of such help. 


198 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Growing Up With Chicago.—“The West will buy 
thousands upon thousands of my reapers,” thought Mc¬ 
Cormick. “I must build a factory somewhere out here.” 
Where could the inventor put a factory to the best advantage ? 
It must be near the centre of the prairies and also on the water. 
McCormick spread out a big map of the United States. 
Many times he looked it over, but at last he placed his finger 
on a small new town which people called Chicago. This was 
to be the scene of his great business venture. 

Chicago in 1910 had more inhabitants than any other 
American city except New York; but in 1844 it was a forlorn 
little place. There were no numbers on the frame houses 
where lived its ten thousand people; the streets were unpaved 
and deep in mud; it had no railroad, no telegraph, no gas, no 
sewers. Around the town lay miles of swamp. In the year 
when McCormick first saw it, only six small vessels had come 
into its shallow harbor. The people of Cleveland and St. 
Louis despised Chicago and called it a mud-hole. 

Yet young McCormick had faith in the future of the 
shabby town. He was sure that the grain of the West would 
make Chicago grow into a great city. His reaper would make 
it possible to raise a hundred times as much grain as the West 
had ever known, and this grain would be sent East by water 
and land. Both ships and railroads would come in time to 
the almost unknown settlement on the shore of the lake. 

It was with empty hands that McCormick came to the 
West. He had not the needed money to establish business in 
a large way, and he needed a backer. Of the men in Chicago 
he went to the most successful, William Ogden; when 
McCormick proposed building a reaper factory, Ogden saw 
its value. “You are the man we want here,” said Ogden. 
‘Til give you twenty-five thousand dollars for a half-interest, 
and we’ll build the factory at once.” McCormick agreed, and 
the new firm erected (1847) the largest plant in Chicago. 


CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 


199 


The Reaper Fights for the North.—By 1860, just before 
the Civil War, McCormick’s factory had grown to be the 
pride of Chicago. It actually employed one hundred and 
twenty men. Should we consider it a great factory now? 
The reaper that was made in the factory, however, looked 
very much like McCormick’s original machines. Two seats 
had been added to it—one for the driver and one for the man 





Reproduced by permission of the Philadelphia Museums 


STEAM HARVESTER AT WORK 

who had to rake the cut grain off the platform upon which it 
fell, but those were the only great improvements. Now came 
in a device which did the work of the man who raked off the 
grain. Only two men then were needed to work with the 
machine—the driver and the man who followed behind and 
bound the bundles of cut grain into sheaves. 

When the Civil War began, the nation learned the true 
value of the reaper. It has often been said that the war was 
a conflict between the cotton states and the wheat states. It 
was a Northern man, Eli Whitney, whose cotton-gin made 
slavery profitable for the South; it was a Southern man. 











200 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Cyrus McCormick, whose reaper made the Northern grain 
states rich and strong. While Northern men fought in the 
Union armies, the reapers, often driven by women, did the 
work at harvest for which these men with their “cradles” 
would once have been needed. The reaper, drawn by its two 
horses and doing the work of ten men or more, harvested 
plenty of grain to feed those who fought and those who 
stayed at home, Said Edwin Stanton, President Lincoln’s 
Secretary of War, “Without McCormick’s invention I fear 
the North could not win.” 

King Wheat.—In a few years after the war McCormick’s 
factory was making ten thousand “harvesters” a year. The 
great wheat states of Kansas and Nebraska had come into the 
Union since the war began, and an additional army of settlers 
in the land which is now North Dakota and South Dakota 
was now raising wheat. 

After a time McCormick added to his harvester a binding 
device which tied the sheaves with twine in as good a way as 
could be done by any man. Now the “reaper and binder” 
was complete. All it needed was a driver. It grew so popular 
that the people of Europe used it also. This wonderful 
machine, doing the work of twenty laborers at once, made 
grain so cheap that no nation with good land and a favorable 
climate need suffer for lack of bread. 

Now the United States is the greatest wheat-raising 
country in the world. On the western prairies of North 
Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska 
wheat is king. To reap those oceans of golden grain, the 
reaper had to grow larger and larger. Nor was its work 
complete with the mere reaping and binding. In its largest 
form the reaper cuts the grain, threshes ic, puts the wheat into 
bags at the rate of two a minute, and leaves the bags in neat 
rows along its path. Instead of two horses, six, ten, sixteen, 
twenty are needed to pull the great Western machines. The 


CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 


201 


most gigantic reaping-machines require thirty-two horses to 
haul them along. Sometimes a gasoline tractor does the 
work of all these horses. Cyrus McCormick himself would 
be amazed at the development of his ideas. 

At last, when seventy-five years had passed over his head, 
McCormick’s life came to an end. As he lay dying, his eyes 
opened, and he murmured his last words, “Work, work!” 
His work, indeed, had been a blessing to mankind. He had 
seen his country grow from a feeble nation to a strong one, 
and he knew that he had helped to make it strong. The 
reaper had done much to settle the West, to make its farmers 
rich, and to feed the crowded cities of our land. To multiply 
the farmer’s strength by ten was the wonder achievement of 
Cyrus McCormick. Through this achievement America 
stands as a storehouse of plenty for the world. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Draw a sickle, a scythe, a “cradle,” a flail. Do farmers use these 

today? If farmers were forced to use such tools to harvest their 
crops at present, what would be the result? 

2. Was Robert McCormick a father to be proud of? Explain your 

answer. 

3. What other inventors have had to wait a long time for success? 

4. Why should McCormick’s Western factory be on the water? 

5. What was the earlier name of the settlement of Chicago? 

6. What factories do you know that employ more men than McCormick 

did in 1860? 


SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE 


THE MAN WHO SENT WORDS BY WIRE 

“ Nothing but the consciousness that I have an invention which 
is to contribute to the happiness of millions would have sustained me 
through so many trials of patience in perfecting it .”—Letter to a friend 
in Congress. 

I. ARTIST AND INVENTOR 

In the days when Washington was President, old Madam 
Rand of Charlestown, opposite Boston, kept a little school. 
“What are you drawing on your slate, Samuel Morse ?” said 
she one morning to a blue-eyed youngster four years of age. 
Samuel got a good rap from her rattan, for his drawing was 
a funny picture of the old lady. 

Years later, Samuel’s father, a minister who was far from 
rich, managed to send his son to Yale College; then the 
sixteen-year-old boy found this gift for drawing a valuable 
accomplishment. To pay part of his expenses he painted 
miniatures for five dollars apiece and drew profiles for a 
dollar. 1 Samuel longed to be a true artist. Just before his 
graduation he painted “The Landing of the Pilgrims at 
Plymouth” so well that Mr. Morse consented to Samuel’s 
desire to study art. 

A Lesson From a Master Painter.—Samuel now began 
to study painting with Washington Allston, one of the lead¬ 
ing artists of the time. In the spring after Samuel graduated 
from college, Mr. Allston sailed for England and took his 
pupil with him. In England Morse met Benjamin West, the 
most famous American artist of that day, and Samuel gained 
much from this fine old artist’s good advice. 

1 Miniatures were little portraits which could be worn in lockets. 
They were usually painted upon ivory. Profiles were side-face portraits. 

202 



SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE 


203 



SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE 

From a painting by himself, using a mirror. This portrait is exhibited at the 
museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences 


One day Morse showed to West a drawing which he had 
just made. “Very well, sir,” said West. “Go on and finish 
it.” “It is finished,” answered the young man. “Oh, no,” 
replied West. “Look here, and here, and here.” Morse saw 



204 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


his faults and spent a week in going over the drawing. Then 
he brought it once more to West. 

“Very good,” remarked West again, “but go back and 
finish it.” “Isn’t it finished yet ?” asked Morse, disappointed. 
“Not yet,” said the famous artist. “Here are several places 
which need attention.” In three or four days Morse again 
brought back the drawing. “Very clever,” granted West, 
“but go back and finish it.” “I cannot finish it any more,’.’ 
cried Morse in despair. “ Well,” West answered, “ I have 
tried you long enough. You have learned more by this 
one drawing than by half a dozen careless attempts. Truly 
finish one picture, and you will be a good painter.” 

Married but Homeless.—Morse took West’s lesson to 
heart and worked accordingly. Soon one of his pictures 
was declared to be among the best of those produced that 
year in England. After four years of careful study, 
Morse thought he was qualified to be an artist in his native 
land. He sailed back to Boston and opened a studio, but 
the Americans were not used to buying paintings of any 
kind except portraits. 

As there were already several good portrait-painters in 
Boston, Morse had few orders, so he took his canvas and 
brushes and set off on a tour through the towns of New 
England. He found many customers for portraits and 
felt much encouraged. In New Hampshire, at an evening 
company, the tall, pleasant young artist, then twenty-five, 
met a charming girl of sixteen years, Lucretia Walker, 
and on the part of both it was love at first sight. 

The life of Morse as an artist was full of ups. and 
downs. Sometimes he prospered; sometimes he could find 
no sale for his pictures. Finally Morse decided that New 
York City was the place for him to live. The Erie Canal 
was nearly finished (1823), and Morse believed that it 
would make New York the greatest and richest city of our 


SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE 


205 


land. Of the wealth which Morse thought would come 
pouring into the city he hoped to get a share. 

A Sad Loss. Back to Europe.—To New York Morse 
therefore hastened. He secured good board at $2.25 a 
week, and found a fine studio on Broadway; but he waited 
a long time for the expected dollars. At last the city of 
New York sent him to Washington to paint the picture of 
Lafayette, who was then making his third visit to the 
United States. While Morse was working on the portrait, 
he received sad news. His wife, so dear to him, had 
suddenly died. 

This was a staggering blow. For five years Lucretia 
had cheered him when the future seemed dark and had 
rejoiced at each of his successes. Now he was forlorn and 
lonely indeed. 

Morse again fell to work. Strangely enough, he now 
secured as many orders as he could fill; but soon he felt 
that his painting was not improving, and that he ought to 
travel once more to Europe and study the wonderful 
pictures of some of the old masters. Accordingly, in 1829, 
at the age of thirty-eight, Morse sailed from New York in 
the packet Napoleon, and landed at Liverpool after a 
voyage of nearly four weeks. 

The Birth of a Great Idea.—Three years spent in the 
art-galleries and studios of Italy gave Morse the additional 
taste and skill which he wanted. He set out on his return 
to America. One day the passengers at the cabin table of 
the ship began talking of electricity. Many things had 
been discovered about that strange force since Franklin’s 
day, but its great power had not yet been used. 

“ How long,” asked one gentleman, “ does it take for 
electricity to pass along a wire ? ” “ It passes so quickly 

that we cannot measure the short space of time,” answered 
another. At that instant a wonderful thought took 


£06 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


possession of Morse. “ I see no reason, then,” said he, 
“ why we should not send, in the twinkling of an eye, 
electric messages.” 

Though this was to Morse an entirely new idea, it was 
not new in the world. Inventors in England, France, 
Germany and America already had been trying experiments 
along this line; but Morse, fortunately, knew nothing of 
such trials. As, at the end of a month’s voyage, his ship 
neared land, he said to her commander, “ Well, Captain, if 
you hear some day of the electric telegraph as the wonder 
of the world, remember that the thought was born on your 
good ship.” 

But inventions took money. Morse had spent all his 
cash, and found it hard even to make a living. In the three 
years of his absence from America other artists had taken 
his place. Though Morse had many friends, customers 
were few. Some young men came to take lessons in art, 
but even with painting and teaching combined Morse’s 
income was pitifully small. At one time his meals con¬ 
sisted principally of tea and crackers. 

II. THE STAR OF VICTORY 

Help Comes.—If Morse had been willing to beg help 
from his friends, he need not have suffered hunger; but he 
was too proud to ask assistance or run into debt, and he 
was not yet ready to borrow money as a business venture. 
At last help came without his request. He was appointed 
a professor of art in the New York City University which 
had just been built. To the University Morse now moved 
from his bare room, and there during his spare time he 
worked on his invention. 

One of the students at the University was Alfred Vail, 
son of Judge Vail who owned the Speedwell Iron Works at 
Morristown, New Jersey. Young Vail was a good mechanic. 


SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE 


207 


He learned of Professor Morse’s invention, came to see it, 
and saw that if successful the telegraph would be a wonderful 
thing. To help Morse succeed became Vail’s ambition. 
“ I will sink or swim with Morse’s telegraph,” said he. 
Soon he persuaded his rich father to advance two thousand 
dollars with which to build a good machine and to pay for 
patents on it. In return Morse gave Alfred Vail a quarter 
interest in the invention. 

The Partners Convince the Judge.—By pressing a key, 
so making or breaking an electric current, Morse’s machine 
caused dots and dashes to be marked upon a paper tape miles 
away. The rough idea of the telegraph was clearly shown 
in Morse’s cheaply made piece of apparatus, but Vail was 
able to improve the apparatus in many ways. The model 
made by Morse, for instance, marked the dots and dashes in 
a zigzag manner; Vail easily made them form a straight line. 

The partners set up their chief workshop in Judge Vail’s 
iron-works at Morristown, and all through the fall of 1837 
they labored there. It was a trying time. Often their 
experiments failed, and often they felt discouraged; but they 
never gave up. The Judge, however, who saw his two 
thousand dollars rapidly being spent, began to doubt that his 
son and the professor would ever succeed. 

One January morning in 1838 the Judge received an 
invitation, “ Come and see the telegraph work.” He 
hastened from his home to the workshop. Morse explained 
the apparatus, then went off to a distant room where he was 
to receive the telegraphic message through three miles of 
wire which he had tacked up around the Speedwell plant. As 
soon as Morse had disappeared, the shrewd old Judge took 
from his pocket a slip of paper on which he had written, “ A 
patient waiter is no loser.” “If you can send this and Mr. 
Morse can read it at the other end, I shall be convinced,” 
said he. 


208 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Alfred Vail sat down at the key. Slowly he ticked off 
the message, which took about a minute. Soon Morse 
hurried in with an exact copy of it. The Judge was carried 
away with delight, and wanted to go at once to Washington 
in order to persuade Congress to put up a government 
telegraph line. 

The Heart-Sick Inventor.— In a few weeks more, the 
partners did take the invention to Washington. A room in 
the Capitol building was set aside for the use of Morse; he 
strung ten miles of wire back and forth and flashed through 
this his electric words. President Van Buren with his 
highest officers visited the room and saw the telegraph at 
work; there were many other distinguished visitors; but 
Congress refused to set aside any money to build a tele¬ 
graph line. 

One of the leading Congressmen, however, saw the 
value of Morse’s idea. He pursuaded Morse to go abroad 
and get some foreign nation to take it up. The inventor 
took the steamship, which had now replaced the sailing- 
vessel as a means of travel to Europe, went to England and 
France, stayed a year, but accomplished nothing. The story 
was ever the same—great praise from men of knowledge, 
but no help from the government. Without such help 
the telegraph could not yet be built to various parts 
of the country. People were not yet sufficiently interested 
to subscribe to a private company the large amount of 
money needed. 

“ I return without a farthing in my pocket, and have to 
borrow even for my meals,” wrote Morse. Vail and other 
men who had helped push the telegraph had lost money in 
business and could not furnish any more at that time. Morse 
went back to painting in order to support himself, and also 
took some of the first photographs ever made in this country. 
By denying himself all pleasure, and even by cutting down 


SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE 


209 


his food, he tried to save money to give Congress another 
exhibition of the telegraph. “ I am crushed for want of 
means,” said he. 

A Great Disappointment.—From his brother, Morse 
borrowed money enough to pay his expenses for a trip to 
Washington, and again he asked Congress to try his inven¬ 
tion. Ten years had passed since on board ship he had first 
seriously thought of the telegraph, but he was still begging 
for help. Day after day and week after week went by, yet 
Congress had not even discussed the question. Finally the 
Representatives took it up and by a very close vote (89 to 
83) decided that thirty thousand dollars should be spent in 
testing Morse’s telegraph. Then it was necessary for the 
Senators to vote upon the proposition. Only a week of the 
term of Congress was left. If other business prevented 
the discussion of the invention, nothing would be done for 
at least another year. Morse was at the end of his money, 
and felt almost completely discouraged. 

For six days of the last week of Congress Morse sat in 
the gallery of the Senate Chamber, listening impatiently to 
speeches about everything but the telegraph. Every night he 
returned to his room with sad heart, for another precious 
day had passed in vain. The last day arrived. Congress 
was to sit until midnight. Until evening Morse stayed at 
the Capitol, waiting, waiting. “ Nothing will be done about 
your telegraph,” then said his friends. In deep disappoint¬ 
ment Morse left the building and went to his boarding house. 
Though his hopes were crushed to the ground, he said a 
prayer, and with trust in God for the future, slept as quietly 
as a child. 

The Dawn of a Brighter Day.—In the morning, prepared 
to leave Washington that day, he came down to breakfast. 
A servant approached his chair, saying, “ A young lady is 
in the parlor and wishes to see you.” It was Annie Ellsworth, 

14 


210 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


daughter of a good friend to Morse; her face wore a smile 
as the inventor came into the room. “You are an early 
caller, Annie,” observed Morse. “ Yes, I have come to con¬ 
gratulate you,” answered the girl. 

“ Indeed, on what? ” 

“ On the passing of your bill by Congress.” 

“ Oh, no, you are mistaken; I was in the Senate chamber 
till after the lamps were lighted, and my friends assured me 
there was no chance for me.” 

“ But it is you who are mistaken,” replied Annie 
Ellsworth. “ Father was there at midnight and saw the 
President put his name to your bill. Am I the first to 
tell you? ” 

For a while Morse could not speak. At length he 
answered, “ Yes, Annie, you are the first. Now I am going 
to make you a promise. The first message from Washington 
to Baltimore shall be yours.” 

“ Well,” said Miss Ellsworth, “ I shall hold you to 
your promise.” 

Annie Ellsworth’s Message.—Upon hearing of the pas¬ 
sage of the telegraph bill by Congress, Alfred Vail came 
from Philadelphia to Washington to help his partner. At 
first Morse and Vail put their telegraph wires underground, 
but this did not work well, so poles were soon set up to 
carry the line. More than a year went by before the wires 
reached Baltimore; but at last, on a May day in 1844, Morse 
and some of his friends assembled at the Capitol to see 
the telegraph carry out the conditions which Congress 
had fixed. 

Annie Ellsworth was the queen of the hour, for Morse 
had not forgotten his promise. After consulting with her 
mother, Annie had chosen, as the message she wished to 
send, a text from the Bible, “ What hath God wrought? ” 


SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE 


211 


Morse's fingers made the proper dots and dashes. In 
Baltimore, forty miles away, Vail at the other end of the 
line received the message and flashed it back again to Morse. 
The dream of the artist, which once seemed so wild, was now 
realized by the inventor. Though Morse, now fifty-three 
years old, had grown gray with care, this was his day 
of triumph. 

Yet the great steadfast inventor, as his friends crowded 
around to congratulate him, took little of the praise to him¬ 
self. “ That sentence of Annie Ellsworth’s,” he wrote to 
his brother, “ is in my thoughts day and night, ‘ What hath 
God wrought?’ It is His work, and He alone could have 
carried me thus far through all my trials.” 

An Honored Old Age.—Fame and some fortune now 
came to this steadfast man. The name of Morse was 
carried over all the civilized world. Morse would have liked 
the United States Government to take the patent for the 
telegraph and control all the telegraph lines in the country, 
but Congress decided against this. Soon, therefore, a 
private telegraph company was formed in Maryland and was 
called “ The Magnetic Telegraph Company.” Many other 
companies followed, and with the money that presently came 
to Morse from his shares in the companies, he bought a 
beautiful home, Locust Grove, two miles south of Pough¬ 
keepsie, on the Hudson. Here he gathered about him his 
three children, now grown up, and enjoyed a real home for 
the first time in many years. 

Telegraph lines were soon put up not only over the 
eastern part of the United States, but also in Europe. Morse 
gained little money but much honor from the European 
countries, who so freely used his invention. At home he 
received a glory seldom given; a statue of him was set up in 
New York City, while he was yet living, and the governor of 
New York made a speech in his honor. “ Thanks to Samuel 


212 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


F. B. Morse,” said the governor, “ men speak to one another 
now, though separated by the width of the earth, with the 
lightning’s speed, and as though standing face, to face.” 

Today the whole world is bound together by telegraph 
lines, for the cables carry the copper wires even under the 
seas. From across the ocean we receive almost immediately 
the news of events as they take place. Men understand each 
other better because of Morse’s invention, and have greater 
power to act together and act quickly for all good purposes. 
The swift messages of Morse’s telegraph have made the 
world more civilized. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. What did the word “telegraph” mean as it was first used? 

2. What kinds of telegraph besides the electric telegraph have been 

employed ? 

3. What had Morse invented before the electric telegraph? 

4. How do expert operators today read the telegraph messages? 

5. Was it fortunate or unfortunate that Morse was ignorant of the 

fact that other inventors had unsuccessfully tried to telegraph by 
electricity ? 

6. Morse had a dictionary plan for sending words. Find out what the 

plan was, and how it succeeded. 

7. Are there any great means of sending news which our Government 

has taken under its direction? 


ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL 


THE MAN WHO SENT THE HUMAN VOICE BY WIRE 

“ By the wondrous agency of electricity, speech flashes through 
space and swift as lightning bears tidings of good and evil.”— Inscrip¬ 
tion in the Boston Public Library. 

THE SPEAKING TOY 

The Talking Skull.—“ Come see what a wonderful thing 
Alexander Bell has made,” said one thirteen-year-old boy in 
Scotland to another; “ you have never seen anything to equal 
it, I'll warrant.” The two lads 
rushed off to Alexander’s home. 

Sure enough, there he had a 
grinning skull, not of white 
bone, however, but of black 
India-rubber, for he had shaped 
it himself. 

The real surprise lay inside 
the skull. Hidden within it 
were pipes like those of an 
organ, only much smaller. 

Alexander did not allow his 
friends to guess what he was 
about to do. He blew with a 
hand-bellows through these in 
turn, and thus made sounds Alexander graham bell 
which combined into words. The eyes of the boys nearly 
popped out of their heads with surprise. 

Active Alexander.—Alexander Graham Bell, this boy 
who, about the time of our Civil War, made the talking 
skull, came from a family of people who studied talking. His 

213 



214 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


grandfather invented a way to cure stammering; his father 
was a famous elocutionist and wrote several books on the 
art of correct speaking; so it was natural that young 
Alexander should try to make something that was not alive 
talk as though it were living. 

People said, “ Alexander Bell will make either something 
great or nothing much out of himself.” There was no 
dull middle course in Alexander’s nature. Whenever he 
took up a new thing he was all on fire with interest. Life 
seemed a great game to the young fellow. Something novel 
to do, and to enjoy while doing it, constantly occurred to his 
mind. Just to look at Alexander, tall and slender, with a 
pale face out of which shone his bright black eyes, you would 
have known what an eager, headlong lad he was. What an 
active brain worked under that bush of curling black hair! 

A New Home. Bell, the American.—While Bell was 
teaching, he continued to experiment on sounds. He found 
out that a current of electricity sent over a wire would make 
a tuning-fork sing at the far end of the wire. Bell knew a 
great deal about Morse’s telegraph, which by this time had 
grown familiar to most people. “ Perhaps I can make a 
better telegraph than Morse did,” thought Bell. He dreamed 
of a telegraph which should have a piano keyboard and which 
could send several messages at once over a single wire. 

But in the midst of his work and his dreaming, 
Alexander, then twenty-three, fell sick. When the doctor 
came he shook his head. “ You must seek another climate,” 
said he, gravely. 

As soon as Mr. and Mrs. Bell heard the doctor’s warning, 
they said, “ Alexander, we will go away with you.” The 
three took a steamer from Glasgow and went to a little town 
in Canada. In that cool, dry, bracing air Alexander’s health 
improved rapidly. He could not bear to be idle, so he 
employed his time in teaching a class of deaf and dumb 



ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL 215 

children how to speak. Alexander proved to be such a kind 
and clever teacher that these unfortunate children learned 
wonderfully well under his care. Every one who saw them 
was amazed at their progress. 


_i_ m ——*a 

FIRST MORSE TELEPHONE TRANSMITTER 

After a year of happy, healthy, busy life in Canada, the 
doctors pronounced Alexander entirely cured. Professor 
Bell was then making his living by lecturing in various cities. 
In Boston, he spoke of his son’s wonderful success in teach¬ 
ing deaf and dumb children. A school for such children had 
just been opened in Boston by the Board of Education. “If 
your son will come to Boston and show us how he teaches, we 







216 OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 

will give him five hundred dollars,” said the men of 
the Board. 

Alexander agreed to go to Boston. It was his first trip 
into the United States, and he thought that he would soon 
return to Canada or Scotland; but fate decided otherwise. 
His work pleased the Boston people. One day Dom Pedro, 
the Emperor of Brazil, came to the city. Brazil was a new 
and backward country, but its emperor was a very intelligent 
man. In order to learn of good things which he might intro¬ 
duce into his own land, he spent much time in traveling 
about the United States and Europe. The Boston Board of 
Education could find nothing to show Dom Pedro that was 
so interesting as Bell’s class. The Emperor spent a long while 
observing Bell as he taught in Boston University and was 
greatly pleased with the young man’s skill. It was not the last 
time that the emperor and the teacher were to meet. 

The Cellar Workshop.—Beside teaching at Boston Uni¬ 
versity, Bell opened a successful and profitable school of his 
own, to train persons to speak well. For two years he was 
so busy with teaching that he had laid inventing aside. 
Strangely enough, it was through one of his deaf and 
dumb pupils that Bell again took up his work on the 
“ new telegraph.” 

Mr. Sanders, a citizen of Salem, near Boston, asked Bell 
to give private lessons to his little five-year-old boy George. 
To make it easier for Bell to teach George, Mr. Sanders 
said, “ Mr. Bell, won’t you make your home with us for 
a while? ” “ A while” turned out to be three years. Mr. 
Sanders became very fond of Bell. He liked to hear about 
the young man’s experiments, and from talking about them, 
Bell fell into the humor of taking them up again. “You 
may use my cellar for your work,” said Mr. Sanders; and 
Bell at once began to fill the cellar with wire, tuning-forks, 
magnets and batteries. 


ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL 


217 


In the cellar Bell worked alone nearly every night, trying 
to make sound come over wires. Whenever he thought he 
had improved his apparatus, he would rush to get Mr. 
Sanders. In the middle of the night the poor man would 
often have to leave his warm bed and travel down to the 
cellar. Then Bell would run to the barn, his black eyes 
snapping with excitement, and begin to send signals over his 
wires to Mr. Sanders. If he saw any change for the better, 
he would jump about and whirl around in a wild war-dance. 

Bell and the Two Fathers.—Another one of Bell’s pupils 
had a great influence upon his life. The pupil was a girl of 
fifteen years, Mabel Hubbard, who had been made deaf 
when a baby through an attack of scarlet fever. Mabel was a 
sweet, lovable girl, and the young teacher lost his heart to 
her. In return, Mabel gave her love to the man who had 
brought her out of silence by showing her how to talk with 
other people. 

Mabel Hubbard’s father, a well-known and prosperous 
lawyer of Boston, saw that his daughter and Bell cared for 
each other, and he became interested in Bell’s success. The 
more he heard Bell talk, the more Mr. Hubbard believed in 
him. “If your musical telegraph is successful,” said 
Hubbard to Bell, “ it will make you a millionaire.” 

As Bell had given up most of his teaching in order to 
devote the time to his invention, Mr. Hubbard and Mr. 
Sanders joined in paying the expenses of the experiments. 
To the disgust of at least one of the men, Bell struck off on 
a new track. “ I now want to make my wires carry, not 
musical notes, but the human voice itself,” thought he. “ If 
I can make a deaf and dumb child talk,” he said, “ I can 
make iron talk.” But how? 

A Dead Man’s Ear.—For months Bell pondered over the 
great question. “ Forget that nonsense,” angrily advised 
Mr. Hubbard. “ Throw it out of your mind and go ahead 


218 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


with the musical telegraph.” That was easy to say, but the 
pale earnest young inventor could not forget it. “ How can 
the voice be carried ? ” was ever in his mind. 

Bell took his problem to a friend, Doctor Blake. 
“ Why don’t you try the experiment with a real ear? ” said 
his friend. The doctor cut from the head of a corpse an ear 
with its tiny ear-bones. Bell arranged it so that one end of 
a straw touched the drum-head of the ear and the other end 
rested against a piece of smoked glass. Then the inventor 
shouted into the ear. The drum-head shook, the straw 
trembled with it and made marks upon the glass. 

“ Is he crazy,” people might have questioned, “ this 
young man who is so busy with talking into a dead man's 
ear? ” No, Bell was far from crazy. He noticed how thin 
and delicate was the drum-head, and yet how well it made the 
waves of sound move along the straw. “ If I put a thin iron 
plate in place of the human drum-head,” thought he, “ then 
it could send sound-waves along an iron wire. This could 
make another iron plate shake or vibrate at the far end of 
the wire. The same sound-wave that goes into one end of 
the wire will come out at the other.” Bell was on the right 
track at last. 

II. THE WONDER OF AMERICA 

Discouragement and Encouragement.—Just as fortune 
seemed to smile upon Alexander Bell, a shadow fell across 
his path. Mr. Sanders and Mr. Hubbard threatened that 
they would pay'out no more of their good money for Bell’s 
experiments on speaking by wire. If he would keep On try¬ 
ing to improve Morse’s telegraph, these two backers were 
willing to furnish further additional cash, otherwise— 
no contributions. 

Poor Bell felt discouraged. “ It seems to me that I am 
on the point of making a great invention,” thought he. 


ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL 


219 

“ Must I give it up for lack of a little money? ” Yet the 
inventor had no money of his own. “ Can I bear to give up 
my telephone experiments?” said Bell to himself. “But 
can I afford to keep on? ” 

While hope along this line seemed dead, Bell was called 
to Washington. He had to borrow from Mr. Sanders the 
price of his ticket, and he stayed at the home of a Washington 
friend to save a hotel-bill. There lived in the national capital 
Professor Joseph Henry. This deep thinker knew more 
about electricity than any other man in the United States, 
and he had worked on Morse’s telegraph before Bell was 
born. “ I will consult Professor Henry about my tele¬ 
phone,” 1 said the young man. 

The two men, one old and one young, put their heads 
together over Bell’s instrument. At last the professor made 
his statement. “ You have the beginning of a wonderful 
thing,” announced Henry. “ Keep at it until you have 
made it complete.” From his conversation with Professor 
Henry, Bell departed greatly encouraged. He returned to 
Massachusetts ready to work with fresh spirit. 

A Clock-Spring Twangs.—Bell’s two backers, however, 
made him promise to go ahead in the line which they desired; 
so, putting aside for the time his telephone idea, he labored 
to make the “ harmonic telegraph ” a success. Young 
Thomas Watson became deeply interested in Bell’s schemes, 
and was quite willing to stay in the evenings to help Bell 
test the instruments. 

But the “ harmonic telegraph ” did not work well. All 
through the winter and the spring Bell and Watson struggled 
along until it became a perfect nightmare. June came. One 
hot afternoon the two friends, almost disheartened, were 
busy. Their telegraph wire connected two rooms some 
distance apart. In. one room Bell w as tuning up his receiv- 

1 Telephone is Bell’s own name for his invention. 





220 OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 

ing instruments, while in the other Watson tinkered with 
pieces of clock-spring at the sending end of the wire. 


MR. BELL OPENING THE NEW YORK—CHICAGO LINE, OCTOBER, 1892 

The springs in Watson’s room were set vibrating by mag¬ 
nets. One of these springs, by a freak of the apparatus, 
failed to vibrate. Watson twanged it to set it vibrating 










ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL 


221 


again. It did not start; again he twanged the spring. The 
next moment there was a shout from Bell, and into the room 
he rushed. “ What did you do then, Watson? ” he demanded. 
“ Don’t change anything. Let me see! ” 

The Baby Telephone Speaks.—What had happened? 
The explanation was easy. The sticking of the apparatus 
had allowed a continuous current of electricity to flow over 
the wire to Bell’s instrument. Just at the right time Bell 
had happened to put his ear at his instrument and the current 
had faintly brought to him the twang of the far-off spring. 2 
Instantly the keen mind of Bell recognized that speech would 
carry over the wire in a similar way. Accidentally he had 
found a simple method to do the work for which he had 
expected to need a very elaborate set of instruments. 

Excited and happy, Bell gave Watson directions for 
making a real telephone which they could test the next even¬ 
ing. It was finished in time, and Watson on the third floor 
of the building and Bell in the garret two flights above tried 
to talk to each other. Shout as he would Watson’s voice 
failed to carry to the garret, but Bell’s strong, clear voice 
came to Watson’s ear, though the words were not under¬ 
stood. Almost wild with delight, Watson rushed up the steep 
stairways to bring the news that the telephone worked. 

After that the perfecting of the telephone was only a 
matter of time. Soon the two experimenters were able to 
distinguish occasional words; but it was March, 1876, nine 
months after the first discovery, before the baby telephone 
uttered its first entire sentence. Then, with Bell’s voice, it 
said : “ Mr. Watson, please come here. I want you.” Though 
not so noble a first message as that which had b een sent thirty 

3 The receiving instrument at which Bell was working was intended 
only to make various springs vibrate whenever corresponding springs, 
tuned in harmony at the sending end of the wire, were pressed to make 
dots and dashes. 





MZ OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 

years before over Morse’s telegraph line, these words were 
just as important to the world. 

An Unexpected Trip to the Centennial.—Two months 
after the telephone had found its voice, the great Centennial 
Exposition opened in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. One 
hundred years had passed since the United States had 
declared in 1776 that it was a free and independent nation. 


AN EARLY TELEPHONE EXCHANGE 

The Centennial Exposition celebrated that hundred years 
of our national life. All the most wonderful produc¬ 
tions of the country were gathered into the immense 
Exposition buildings. 

Mr. Hubbard happened to be one of the Exposition 
managers. He secured for Bell a chance to show his tele¬ 
phone, which had now been patented. The only spot Bell 
could secure was a little table in a retired room, and on this 
the telephone instrument was placed. 

Bell, however, did not plan to go to the Centennial, for 


















ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL 


223 


he was too poor. “ The telephone will have to speak for 
itself,” he thought. But one afternoon he went to the train 
with his sweetheart Mabel, who was starting off for 
Philadelphia. Mabel thought that Alexander would surely 
go with her, and when she found he intended to stay at home, 
she was bitterly disappointed. As the train began to move, 
tears rolled down Mabel’s cheeks. Bell, who stood on the 
platform watching his sweetheart, could not endure the sight. 
He dashed after the train, sprang aboard, without money or 
baggage, and went merrily off to Philadelphia, trusting as 
usual to borrow the needed funds. 

The Friend of the Emperor. —As it turned out, this head¬ 
long decision to go to the Centennial was the luckiest act of 
Bell’s life. The day after he arrived in Philadelphia, the 
judges were to make their trip of inspection in order to give 
medals for the best articles shown. Bell’s telephone had 
been standing on its little table for six weeks, and no one had 
taken special notice of it; but now that Bell himself was 
present, he hoped that the judges would see its value. 

That June day Bell sat down at his telephone table, wait¬ 
ing for the judges to arrive. He waited a long time. The 
judges were busy examining the first electric light and the 
first reaper and binder and many another marvelous thing. 
Not until seven o’clock in the evening did they reach the spot 
where sat Bell. 

The judges were hot and tired and hungry. They 
glanced at young Bell and his machine, and saw nothing 
wonderful about” either of them. Bell explained the tele¬ 
phone, but the tired judges scarcely listened. Some of them 
laughed. “ Another crazy idea,” said they. Bell’s heart 
sank down, down, down. 

Then the strange thing happened. A tall, fine-looking, 
bearded man, with a group of men and women about him, 
entered the room. The judges looked at him respectfully, 


224 , 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


for he was Dom Pedro. But just then the Emperor had no 
time to waste on the judges. Straight up to Alexander Bell 
he went, with both hands outstretched. “ Professor Bell,” 
he exclaimed, “ I am delighted to see you again! ” The sur¬ 
prise of the judges knew no bounds. How was it possible 
that this unknown young man could be the friend of an 
emperor? They soon found that Dom Pedro had never for¬ 
gotten the fine teaching which Bell had shown him. 

The Star of the Centennial. —Now every one became 
interested in the invention of the emperor’s friend. Dom 
Pedro was the first to pick up the receiver of the telephone, 
but he was not sure what would happen. Bell went to the 
other end of the vast room and took up the transmitter. In 
a moment the* Emperor raised his head in surprise. “ My 
God,” cried he, “ it talks! ” 

Old Professor Henry had been in the emperor’s party, 
and came next. The bystanders wondered at the look which 
came into his face as he heard a voice speak from the iron 
plate. Then a noted Englishman, the engineer of the first 
Atlantic cable, stepped up. “‘This is the most wonderful 
thing I have seen in America,” he declared. 

For more than two hours the judges, forgetting their 
weariness and hunger, played with the telephone. They could 
not get enough of the talking wire. Next day they brought 
the telephone out of its corner and took it to the judges’ hall, 
where it would be seen by every distinguished visitor. All 
the rest of the summer it was the wonder of the Centennial. 

The Honor of the Telephone. —Although! the telephoned 
reception at the Exposition proved so successful, people in 
general thought it was a fraud. Most of the men who were 
supposed to know about electricity said, “ It can’t be done.” 
One fellow declared that there was a hole through the middle 
of the wire. But Bell went about the country lecturing and 
showing the wonders of the telephone. Hundreds of articles 



ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL 225 

about it were published in newspapers and magazines. 
Slowly the people of America realized that talking over a 
wire was possible, but they were slower yet to use that power. 

Today, although the telephone is in use in many lands, 
there is no country that puts it to so much use as does the 


MODERN TELEPHONE EXCHANGE 

United States. In America Bell’s telephone has beaten 
Morse’s telegraph and Franklin’s postal service. Many more 
messages are sent every day by telephone than by telegraph 
and letter combined. After many attempts, men have suc¬ 
ceeded in talking by telephone across our continent—three 
thousand miles from ocean to ocean. The space that the 
highest-speeded railroad trains take several days tc cover 
is bridged by the telephone message in a second. 

15 










OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Could we carry on modern business without the tele¬ 
phone? We cannot imagine such a thing. The telephone 
has brought business men close together; but it has done 
more than that. It has brought the whole people of 
America close together. Our big* country needed Bell’s 
marvelous invention to save us from growing apart, to keep 
us friendly, and to preserve that which our makers of the 
Constitution desired—“ a more perfect Union.” 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Show how Bell’s teaching ability brought his success. 

2. Draw a diagram of the hearing part of the ear. 

3. What important expositions have been held in the United States 

since the Centennial? What did each celebrate? 

4. Describe the telephone and its workings to a person who has never 

seen a telephone. 

5. Imagine that all the telephones in your community were destroyed 

some night. Describe the trouble that would result next day. 

6. What special forms of language must be used over the telephone in 

business and social life? Why is such a “ telephone code ” necessary? 


THOMAS ALVA EDISON 


THE WIZARD OF ELECTRICITY 

I. THE ROLLING STONE 

Little Thomas and the Eggs.—A few years after 
Morse's telegraph had come into use, Thomas Edison, a 
delicate-looking little fellow, lived in a small town of 



TWO DYNAMOS 

northern Ohio. The neighbors said, “ Thomas is a queer 
child. He has such a large head; he does not care to play 
with other boys; and he asks so many questions.” That 
large head, however, held an active brain. It was because he 
wanted to learn that the boy tormented other people with 
his queries. 


227 





228 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


To try experiments was Thomas’s delight. One day 
when he was about five years old, he noticed a big white 
goose sitting on a nestful of eggs in the barn. A week or 
so later she led around the yard a flock of tiny yellow gos¬ 
lings. “ Where did those little geese come from, mother? ” 
asked Thomas. “ The goose hatched them from the eggs by 
the warmth of her body,” answered Mrs. Edison. 

Thomas said nothing more; but in a short time his 
mother found him sitting in a nest of hay. The nest was 
filled with goose-eggs and hen’s eggs, which Thomas was 
trying his best to hatch. Could a boy hatch anything but 
trouble in that way? Of course, the mother and father 
laughed themselves nearly sick. They did not foresee that 
Thomas Edison would succeed in life through trying 
strange experiments. 

Experiments in Chemistry. Michael Fails to Fly.— 

Thomas had no difficulty in learning to read. Few story¬ 
books were at hand, so he read the books of grown-up 
people. For each book Thomas finished, his father gave 
him a small sum of money. One of the volumes that came 
into his way, when he had reached the age of eleven, was a 
school-book on chemistry. This interested him very much. 
He went about the town with a basket, picked up all the 
bottles to be found, filled them with every chemical which he 
could afford to buy, and put them on shelves in the cellar of 
his home. There he tried hundreds of experiments. 

One of the experiments proved distressing. Michael, a 
poor German boy, did odd jobs about the Edison house and 
garden, and Thomas often called on Michael to help in his 
chemical work. One day he bought from the drugstore 
some Seidlitz powders, which were often sold as a dyspepsia 
medicine. There were two kinds of these powders; when 
mixed together, they foamed up. “ Instead of mixing these 
just before you drink them, Michael,” said Thomas, “ take 


THOMAS ALVA EDISON 


229 


several of each kind separately, then drink a lot of water. 
They will make gas, and perhaps, you will be so light that you 
can fly.” Poor Michael obeyed. The powders did make 
plenty of gas in his stomach; but instead of flying, all he 
could do was to roll about in pain. The reward Thomas 



EDISON AT THE AGE OF FOURTEEN 


received for that experiment was a good switching by 
his mother. 

The Room in the Baggage-Car. —Buying chemicals took 
all of Thomas’s pocket-money. He had also read all the 
books which he could find. “If you will let me be a train- 
boy on the railroad between Port Huron and Detroit,” said 
he to his parents, “ I can earn money for my experiments and 
I can get the new papers and magazines to read. Beside, I 
can spend my spare time in Detroit at the public library.” 
Mrs. Edison at first felt very unwilling for her twelve-year- 
old boy to go into that business, which would take him away 
from home for so much of the time. At last, however, she 






230 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


gave her consent, and Thomas, or “ Al,” as he was often 
called, began to sell newspapers, fruit, and candy on the train. 

In a little room at one end of the baggage-car Edison 
kept his stock of candies and newspapers. To this space 
he moved most of his jars, bottles and electric batteries. 
Glad enough, no doubt, was Mrs. Edison to see them cleared 
out of her cellar. In the intervals between “ Al’s ” trips 
through the cars he often went ahead with his experiments. 
George Pullman, who lived in Detroit, and who was working 
on the invention of a sleeping-car, pleased “ Al ” very much 
by making him some wooden racks to hold the glass bottles 
and tubes. 

The tiny room on the train, was not only a chemical 
laboratory, but it also grew into a newspaper office. In 
Detroit Edison managed to buy a little printing-press, and 
as the cars rattled along he printed the “Weekly Herald.” 
It was a clever paper for a boy just fifteen to compose and 
publish. The telegraph operators along the line were quite 
proud of it, for it was the first newspaper in the world to be 
printed on a moving train. They often gave their friend 
“ Al ” important news for his Herald which they had heard 
by wire, but which the Detroit journals had not yet printed. 

A Setback to Chemistry.—With his goods, his chemicals, 
and his newspaper, Edison was a busy and happy boy, but a 
stroke of ill-fortune came his way. As the train rushed 
over the rails one day it gave a violent lurch. A stick of 
phosphorus fell off the shelf in Thomas’s little room and it 
set the floor on fire. Scared though he was, Thomas 
bravely tried to beat out the flames, but with little success. 

The conductor smelled the smoke and appeared on the 
scene. By the combined efforts of the two the car was 
saved from destruction, but the conductor, who had been 
slightly burned, was an angry man. At the next station, 
Edison, with ears soundly boxed, was thrown out on the 


THOMAS ALVA EDISON 


231 


platform. His precious chemical apparatus and his printing- 
press were flung after him, and a,s the train steamed away 
he was left discouraged and in tears among his broken 
belongings. That was not the end of his misfortune, for 
the cuffing of his ears by the conductor rendered him almost 
deaf for the rest of his days. 

The Boys’ Telegraph. A Rescue and a Reward.— 
Though he did not lose his position as train-boy, Edison 
made no more chemical experiments on board the cars. 
Instead, he, with his chum, John Ward, determined to set 
up a telegraph line. It would be great fun, they thought, 
to talk from one boy’s home to the other’s. They installed 
their batteries and used ordinary iron wire to carry the elec¬ 
tric current. The wire was “ insulated ’ n with glass bottles 
set on nails driven into trees and posts. In good weather 
messages flashed perfectly along the line, but when rain came 
the telegraph went out of business. The boys soon became 
expert in receiving and sending messages in the Morse code. 

One summer day during the Civil War, the young news¬ 
dealer was standing on the platform of a railroad station. 
A train was shifting freight cars. One car had been pushed 
out on the main track and was rolling rapidly along with no 
one on it, In its path sat the little son of the station agent, 
playing with the gravel ballast, never suspecting that the car 
was about to crush him. 

Edison’s cap flew one way and his papers another as he 
dashed to save the child. He reached the boy, snatched him 
up, and fell with him outside the track. As they fell, the 
car-wheel struck the heel of Edison’s shoe. It was a 
close call. 

To show his gratitude, the station agent offered to teach 
Edison the business of a r ailroad telegraph operator. 

1 Insulation prevents the electric current from escaping before it 
reaches the proper place. 




232 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Nothing could have better pleased the lad. With his own 
hands he made a neat set of telegraph instruments. Giving 
up most of his duties as train-boy, he practiced for every 
spare minute, and in a few months became a regular operator. 

But Edison stayed in this position only a short time. 
An accident happened on the railroad. Edison was blamed 
for it, and he resigned. There was work everywhere for a 
skilled telegraph operator, so Edison left home and began to 
wander from one city to another as the humor took him. 
For five years he drifted about over numerous states. He 
knew almost every important city between the Appalachians 
and the Mississippi. But wherever Edison went, he never 
ceased to study, to experiment, to invent. 

II. FORTUNE ARRIVES 

A Failure in Boston.—At the age of twenty-one Edison’s 
wanderings led him to Boston, where one of his friends had 
secured for him employment with the Western Union Tele¬ 
graph Company. The other operators in the office laughed 
when they saw the boyish, awkward, poorly dressed new¬ 
comer from the West; but Edison soon showed them that 
he was their master in skill. In Boston he often visited the 
electrical workshop of Mr. Williams, where, seven years 
later, Alexander Graham Bell first heard the voice of the 
telephone. Edison, too, invented a machine which he thought 
would become famous, an improved telegraph. 

To bring his invention into notice Edison took a great 
risk. He gave up his position in Boston and even borrowed 
nearly a thousand dollars from his friends. The machine 
did not succeed. Poor Edison found himself in debt and out 
of a job. For partial payment of his debts he sacrificed even 
his books and instruments, keeping only enough money to 
pay his steamboat fare to New York. 


THOMAS ALVA EDISON 


Edison Fixes a Machine. —With only a few cents in his 
pocket, Edison landed in the big city. He had not even 
enough to buy a good breakfast, but he knew one man in 
New York, and proceeded to hunt up his friend. When, 
after hours of search, the friend was found, he was also out 
of work. The help he gave Edison was to lend him just one 
dollar. However, a skilful operator like Edison did not 
need to be long without work. He applied at the Western 
Union office, but learned to his dismay that there would not 
be an opening for several days. 

In the heart of the business part of New York was the 
office of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company, which sent 
out constantly to brokers the changing prices of gold. 2 A big 
machine telegraphed these prices over more than three 
hundred wires at once. In order to make his dollar go as far 
as possible, Edison persuaded the operator of this machine 
to let him sleep in the battery-room behind the main office. 

During the days of his waiting for a position, Edison, 
having no special place to stay, spent much time in 
the main office of the company. He studied all the instru¬ 
ments, and especially the big machine which sent the mes¬ 
sages. On the third day of Edison’s enforced idleness, while 
he was sitting in the main office, the machine stopped short 
with a crash. In two minutes the room was filled with a 
howling mob of boys from the brokers. “ Our wires are 
not working! ” they yelled. “ Fix them right away! ” 

The excited operator, forgetting everything he knew 
about the machine, stood helpless. Edison, however, kept 
his head and went to find the trouble. So thoroughly had 
he studied the instrument that he saw in an instant the cause 
of the stoppage. One of the many springs had broken off 
and fallen down between two wheels. Before Edison could 

3 The price of gold controls the prices of all other articles in most 
civilized countries. 



234 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


tell the operator what was wrong, Dr. Laws, the head of 
the company, rushed in. “ What’s the trouble?” he de¬ 
manded ; but the operator was speechless. 

Edison came forward. . “ I can tell you,” said he. “Fix 
it, then! Fix it! Be quick! ” shouted the doctor. Edison did 
so. In two hours everything was again working smoothly. 
The face of Dr. Laws beamed with pleasure. “Who are 
you, and where do you work? ” he questioned Edison. 
Upon hearing Edison’s answer he ordered, “ Come to my 
office tomorrow.” 

On the morrow Edison promptly appeared. The doctor 
asked him many questions. Edison by his answers showed 
that he not only knew the workings of the company’s instru¬ 
ments, but that he could improve on them. “ Come again 
tomorrow,” directed Dr. Laws. There was a surprise in 
store for the young fellow. As soon as Edison arrived on 
the next day, the doctor declared, “ I am going to give you 
charge of the telegraph system here. Your salary will be 
three hundred dollars a month.” 

Edison nearly dropped to the floor. “If twenty hours 
of work a day will deserve that salary, I will give them,” 
thought he. For about two years he worked day and night. 
Four or five hours of sleep seemed to give him plenty of 
rest. Many inventions, which he patented, came from his 
busy brain. 

Fortune, Fame and Family.—After a time, Edison rented 
a four-story building in Newark and employed fifty men to 
manufacture the machines which he invented. Soon orders 
poured in until it was necessary to run day and night. Edison 
directed all the work; half an hour of sleep three or four 
times a day seemed all that he needed. The business men of 
the telegraph world put confidence in his ability to make 
machines and, better still, came to him whenever a new 


THOMAS ALVA EDISON 


235 


electrical invention was desired. Before Edison was twenty- 
five he had become rich and well known. 

Soon the two great telegraph companies of New York 
offered Edison a large sum just to give them the first chance 
to buy any of his new telegraphic improvements. From 
the time of this bargain Edison kept three hundred workmen 
busy in his Newark shop, and in three years he had cleared 
four hundred thousand dollars. Though so busy, Edison 
found time to fall in love with Mary Stillwell, one of his 
employees. The story is told that very late on the evening of 
the wedding day one of Edison’s friends passed by his shop. 
Light showed that some one was working there. The friend 
entered the unlocked door, and found Edison bending over 
some instruments. “ Look here, Tom,” remarked the in¬ 
truder, “ what are you thinking about? It’s past midnight. 
Aren’t you going home ? ” 

“ What, as late as that? ” said the inventor. “ And this 
is my wedding day. Yes, I must go home.” 

The Master of Menlo Park.—In the spring of 1876, the 
year of the Centennial Exhibition, Edison decided to move 
his workshops to Menlo Park, New Jersey, a little railroad 
station about twenty miles from New York. The settle¬ 
ment had only seven or eight houses. The best one of these 
Edison bought for his home, for he had now two little 
children, a girl and a boy, whom he liked to call by the 
appropriate names of Dot and Dash. 

Close to the station Edison put up a group of buildings. 
One was a big two-story laboratory, and another a splendidly 
fitted up machine-shop. The walls of the laboratory were 
lined with shelves on which were stored all kinds of chemical 
material. Long tables stood in this hall, filled with instru¬ 
ments of the greatest variety. An organ occupied the back¬ 
ground, not for experiment, but for pleasure alone. The boy 
who worked with chemicals in his mother’s cellar had never 


236 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


dreamed that some day he would be able to own a labora¬ 
tory like this and direct the experiments of a score of 
clever helpers. 

In the laboratory Edison was more usually found by 
night than by day. Indeed, he cared little for the course of 
time. When work called him, he and his men rushed at it 
and got it done. Often, after working into the early morn¬ 
ing hours, Edison lay down on one of the laboratory tables, 
with a couple of books for a pillow, and instantly fell into 
dreamless sleep. “ A soft bed spoils a man,” said he. His 
strength seemed to have no limit. Under his leadership a 
marvelous series of inventions came forth to astonish the 
world, and little Menlo Park grew to be a place sought*by 
visitors from many lands. 

III. MARVELOUS INVENTIONS 

Edison and the Telephone.—The year when Edison 
established himself at Menlo Park was the year when Bell’s 
telephone came into public notice. The present telephone 
receiver had been used by Bell as a combined receiver and 
transmitter. After speaking into the queer thing a man 
would hold the mouthpiece to»his ear and hear the answering 
voice. The sound that Bell’s telephone made was very faint, 
and could be heard well by most people only in a quiet spot. 

The manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company 
wanted to rival Bell. He called Edison to his help. “ I 
want to have a better telephone than Bell’s,” said he. Here 
was real warfare—a great genius against a great genius. In 
a few months Edison the wizard had produced an immense 
improvement, the transmitter into which we speak today. 

“ How much do you want for your invention? ” asked 
the manager. “ Twenty-five thousand dollars,” thought 
Edison, but aloud he remarked, “ Make me an offer,” “ One 
hundred thousand dollars,” the manager briefly answered. 


THOMAS ALVA EDISON 


237 


“ All right, ’ said Edison, “ but pay it in this way—six 
thousand a year as long as the patent runs—then I can’t 
spend it so fast.” 3 Money interested the inventor only as it 
gave him power to search into the secrets of nature and to 
push along civilization. This telephone on which Bell and 
Edison both labored has been one of the great inventions 
through which civilized people so easily and cheaply carry on 
the work which civilized life demands. 

The Phonograph. —From Edison’s work with the tele¬ 
phone he knew that a thin plate or disk would shake with 
sound waves. “ If I can make a record of the movements 
of such a disk,” thought Edison, “ that record will repro¬ 
duce the sound whenever I please.” He set to work, and 
designed a cylinder with grooves like a very fine screw. This 
cylinder was to be covered with tinfoil. When a person 
spoke into the mouthpiece of the machine which Edison 
planned, a disk would vibrate and a point on its under side 
would make a record on the tinfoil. 

The machine was finished. Edison himself had little 
faith that it would succeed; but with his own hands he put 
on the tinfoil. Then he shouted into the mouthpiece, “ Mary 
had a little lamb.” When, with mingled doubt and hope, he 
started the tinfoil cylinder afresh, it made the needle shake 
the disk, and, to his joy, the “ phonograph ” repeated the 
Mother Goose rhyme. “ I am always afraid of things that 
work the first time,” was one of Edison’s sayings ; but this 
invention “ worked ” beyond the shadow of a doubt. 

The Wonder of a Nation.— Edison and the other men sat 
up all night experimenting with the wonderful machine. 
A stranger would have thought them crazy, as they recited 
and sang to the curious little phonograph. The next morn¬ 
ing Edison tied it up in a package and took it to New York. 
Walking into the office of the Scientific American , he said to 

3 The term of a patent is seventeen years. 



238 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


the editor, “ I have something to show you.” When the 
bundle was opened and the machine began its talking, such 
a great crowd gathered that the floor was in danger of giving 
way. Nothing but such a danger could have stopped the 
exhibition from lasting all day. 

Columns of description of the new invention appeared in 
the newspapers; all the people who read it were anxious to 
see the machine. Edison immediately built several larger 
and better machines and put them on show at Menlo Park. 
The Pennsylvania Railroad ran special trains to carry the 
crowds. Edison was asked to bring his phonograph to 
Washington. He did so, and almost every important person 
in the city hastened to see it. As soon as he heard Edison 
had arrived, President Hayes asked him to bring the phono¬ 
graph to the White House. 

A company was formed to build and exhibit phono¬ 
graphs. One of the members of the company was Mr. 
Hubbard, the father-in-law of Alexander Bell. He knew a 
good thing when he saw it. The company paid Edison ten 
thousand dollars down and gave him a royalty on every 
machine that was sold. The people of America crowded to 
see and hear the wonderful talking-machine, and for a while 
it was a great money-maker. 

The kind of phonograph records used today, however, 
had not yet been invented. The tinfoil used by Edison as 
a record could not be removed from the machine without 
being spoiled. If it remained on the machine it wore out 
after the message had been repeated two or three times; then 
it had to be thrown away. Most persons, therefore, after 
becoming acquainted with the phonograph as a curiosity, had 
no further use for it, and after a time the profits stopped. 
Edison’s intention was to improve the phonograph, but it 
had to wait its time, for he had become engrossed in 
another invention. 


THOMAS ALVA EDISON 


239 


Brightening the Home.—Edison’s new line of experi¬ 
ment had to do with seeing, not with hearing. It dealt with 
the question of artificial light. When he was born in Ohio, 
lighting had made some advances in the many years since 
Franklin’s day. People no longer had to depend on the open 
fire and candles. Gas was made in the cities, and many 
streets and public buildings were illuminated by it, but very 
few houses were thus supplied. The oil lamp, however, had 
taken the place of the candle in most homes. Hundreds of 
vessels were still hunting the whale and bringing in its oil 
for the home lamp. Many people who thought whale oil 
too smoky used “ fluid,” a mixture of turpentine and alcohol, 
which gave a brilliant light, but was so likely to explode that 
both grown people and children had to be cautioned not to 
shake the lamps. Neither whale oil nor “ fluid,” therefore, 
was entirely satisfactory, and both were expensive. 

About the time when Edison was making his first chemi¬ 
cal experiments in his mother’s cellar, great amounts of 
petroleum were discovered in western Pennsylvania. Refined 
oil from the ground (kerosene) soon took the place of oil 
from the sea, which was already beginning to grow scarce. 
Around the kerosene lamp in the evenings now sat millions 
of American families with their books, games or sewing. 
“ What a blessing in our home,” said they, “ is our cheap 
kerosene lamp with its steady light.” 

About the time of the great Centennial, some wise inven¬ 
tors brought out the electric arc-light. Its intense white 
brilliance made city streets at night still more safe and 
pleasant than gas had been able to do. The arolights, how¬ 
ever, fine as they were for streets and parks, were too hot and 
glaring to be used indoors, “ I must invent some kind of 
electric light, still better than kerosene, for the home,” 
thought Edison. This was indeed a problem big enough to 



perfected, was on the market, he eagerly turned again to his 
electric light experiments. His endeavor was to make a 
small closed glass globe from which all the air had been 
drawn. In this “ vacuum ” or empty space a thread of some 
material, by the passing of the electric current, would become 
so hot as to shine brightly. It would not burn away easily 
because the globe contained no air, and without air there can 
be no ordinary burning. So there the thread would remain, 
shedding its light around the room. 


240 OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 

make Edison postpone work upon his phonograph, which 
though useful was not essential to the people’s comfort. 

The Incandescent Lamp.—Even before he had invented 
the phonograph, Edison had worked to produce a small 
electric lamp, and as soon as the phonograph, though not 


SHOP AT MENLO PARK IN WHICH FIRST INCANDESCENT LIGHT WAS BORN 


























THOMAS ALVA EDISON 


241 


For more than a year Edison kept on with his experi¬ 
ments. He found out the best ways to make his little glass 
globes and to exhaust the air from them. But his perplex¬ 
ing question was, “ What shall I use for the thread that 
glows within the globe ? ” In these trials he had spent forty 
thousand dollars; yet almost as soon as the threads began to 
glow they always broke. So near to success, yet not suc¬ 
cessful, Edison worked like mad. Meals and sleep were 
snatched by him and his assistants at odd times. The only 
thing in the world that mattered was the finishing of 
the lamp. 

At last, after thousands of experiments, Edison tried in 
his lamp a loop of cotton sewing-thread, which had been 
prepared by being heated until everything had been burned 
from it except the carbon. As he turned on the current it 
passed through the thread, which shone so white that the eye 
could not bear to look at it. “ Now, if it only will not 
break! ” cried Edison. “ We sat and watched,” says 
Edison’s account, “ and the lamp continued to burn. The 
longer it burned, the more fascinated we were. None of us 
could bear to go to bed, and there was no sleep for over forty 
hours.” The “ incandescent ” 4 light was a success. 

But the invention of the incandescent light was only a 
part of Edison’s service in lighting up the world. He had 
to invent a whole electric system. From dynamo to lamp 
there were many steps. Many things which are so familiar 
to us that we take them for granted, Edison had to make. 
Sockets, switches, fuses, meters—all these things came, from 
the inventor’s brain. The way of electric wiring had to be 
thought out. But Edison was equal to the task. When, in 
1881, he displayed in Paris his complete electric system, men 
wondered how in two years, even with a hundred helpers, 
such a perfect plan could be made. In later years, a friend 

4 “ Incandescent ” means glowing. 


16 




242 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


said to Edison, “ Which of your numerous inventions do 
you consider the best?” “My lamp and my system of 
lighting,” proudly replied the wizard. 

IV. MORE MAGIC OF THE WIZARD 

The New Homes.—While Edison was gaining fame at 
Menlo Park, his home there was broken up by the death of 
his helpful wife. When once again he was ready to set up 
a home, he decided to leave that spot. On the heights of 
the Orange Mountains, in New Jersey, not far from New 
York, Edison and his family established themselves in a big, 
comfortable house, “ Glenmont.” 

Within sight of “ Glenmont,” at the foot of the 
mountain, Edison built a new set of laboratories and work¬ 
shops. The central building, as at Menlo Park, contained a 
great library-hall and a store-room for all kinds of rare and 
curious materials. These rooms, however, were far larger 
and finer than those at Menlo. The other buildings, 
clustered around, seemed to look up to this central structure 
with respect, for there were the headquarters* of the man of 
genius whose conquering brain directed all. 

Around the Edison plant stretched a high fence, and a 
stern gatekeeper barred the way to all visitors except those 
whose business was of high importance. No longer did 
Edison need to invite people to come see his inventions his 
trouble now was to keep them away. Great scientists 
crossed the ocean to view the amazing creations of this 
marvelous man. 

Honors came to Edison thick and fast. One hot day he 
was working on a new scheme. “ Mr. Edison,” said one of 
his assistants, “ Professor Blank is here with a medal which 
his society has conferred upon you. It is a great and unusual 
compliment.” “ Tell him I am too busy to see him,” 
answered Edison. Medals and compliments had little mean- 


THOMAS ALVA EDISON 


243 


ing for the inventor; he was so great as to be above them. 
At last Edison was persuaded to clean up, dress a little 
better, and receive the medal from the professor. “How 
many medals* of this kind have you been awarded?” later 
asked a friend. “ Oh, I suppose I have about a quart,” 
said Edison. 

The Old Invention.—Here- at the Orange Laboratory 
Edison took up anew the problem of the phonograph. 
Before many months passed, he brought out the machine 
in a new and improved form, almost the same form which 
we use today. Now it could be a constant family pleasure. 
The needle, however, made its record on a cylinder with a. 
w r ax surface; the old tinfoil sheet was used no longer. As 
yet the disk record had not been invented. 5 

The phonograph plays a wonderful part in our lives 
today. It gives us entertainment at home, cultivates our 
musical taste, and even teaches us foreign languages. Busi¬ 
ness men talk their letters into it. By the phonograph the 
great singer is made as immortal as the great artist. Since 
the original Edison patents have run out, many firms now 
manufacture phonographs, but the Edison is still in the field 
and is made in large numbers. 

The Motion Picture.—Fast following the phonograph, 
Edison’s tireless, searching mind developed another wonder, 
the most impressive of all. For many years people had been 
thinking, “ Can we not reproduce the photographs of moving 
objects so the pictures will indicate the motion?” In work¬ 
ing at the task they found that pictures taken at the rate of 

5 Other persons had been working on the invention and had also 
used wax cylinders. As they were not allowed to take the name “ phono¬ 
graph,” which Edison had made his own, they called their machine the 
“ graphophone.” The first talking-machine to use disk records was 
called a “gramophone.” To-day, in ordinary speech, we often call any 
talking-machine a “phonograph,” 



244 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


twenty or thirty a second, when shown again at the same 
speed, gave the eye the impression of motion. But how to 
take the pictures properly and how to show them again were 
the great questions. 

Edison, who delighted in hard problems, turned his 
attention to motion pictures. For six years before he left 
Menlo Park he had been working on this matter at odd 
times. Now he went at it in earnest. A year after the 
improved phonograph appeared in 1888, the American 
people began to see in places of amusement a new machine 
called the Edison kinetoscope. Persons looked through the 
peep-hole of the machine while a crank rapidly turned over 
photographs of moving objects. The quickly changing 
pictures gave to the eye the impression that the object 
actually moved. 

Still, the kinetoscope with its cardboard pictures was not 
much more useful than the early phonograph with its tinfoil 
records. It was largely a toy. In a few years, however, a 
large photographic company brought out celluloid films to 
replace glass plates for taking pictures. These flexible films 
were just what Edison needed. Now the motion pictures 
could be run through a lantern and produced upon the screen. 
What pleasure and what knowledge the motion pictures give 
us today! Edison himself looks forward to the time when 
most school-books will be thrown aside in favor of lessons 
from the films. Do you think that day will come? Until 
recently, every large motion-picture company had to pay a 
royalty to Edison for using his patented inventions. He was 
the real founder of the great motion-picture business. 

Never Say Die.—It would be impossible to tell of all the 
other amazing productions of this marvelous man, who pre¬ 
served his youth at a time when most of his age seem old. In 
1914, at the age of sixty-seven, Edison began a “ drive ” to 
still further improve his phonograph. For forty days he 


THOMAS ALVA EDISON 


24 5 


and his helpers bent all their strength to gain their goal. 
During all that time Edison slept only two hours a day, and 
those hours he took by naps of twenty or thirty minutes. 
Not once did he go to bed. If not needed, he lay down 
on a bench or on the floor and went to sleep instantly. When 
aroused, he rose immediately, ready to go at the work again. 
Though Edison and his men even cooked their own hasty 
meals in the laboratory, he came to the end of the forty days 
without loss of weight or strength. 

When Edison was sixty-eight, his factories at West 
Orange, employing thousands of people, were partly des¬ 
troyed by fire. Many men would have said, “ I am advanc¬ 
ing in age, I am rich, and I shall not start my work over 
again.” It was as natural for Edison to work as to breath. 
Before the ruins had ceased to smoke, he had made his plans 
for rebuilding the plant. That was the never-say-die spirit 
that belongs to the truest Americans. 

With strong mind and tireless energy Edison stilli carries 
on his studies, his experiments, his inventions. “ I will 
drive the horse entirely out of the cities before I die,” said 
he. How many other ideas that will change the world float 
in the wizard’s mind, no one can tell. To stir up our old 
lives, to change everything, but to change it for the better, 
seems the delight of Thomas Edison. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Why was Edison thrifty in spending his money on chemicals? 

2. Put yourself in the conductor’s place when the fire occurred on the 

train. How would you have treated Edison? 

3. What steps must any one go through in making an invention? 

4. Mention the forms of artificial light that have been used in America. 

5. Prove the invention of the incandescent lamp was more essential to 

people’s comfort than that of the phonograph. 

6. What other necessary and common inventions work by means of a 

vacuum ? 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


THE PRESERVER OF THE NATION 

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in 
the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the 
work we are in .”—Address at his second inauguration. 

I. HANDS AND HEAD 

Abe, the Giant.^By the time Abraham Lincoln was a 
noted young man in the Pigeon Creek settlement of Indiana, 
his appearance alone would have made strangers turn to 
gaze at him. This giant of nearly six 
feet four inches would have much over¬ 
topped even George Washington’s im¬ 
posing height, yet he had none of 
Washington’s erect bearing or fine 
appearance. Lean and lank, with 
slightly stooping shoulders and enor¬ 
mous hands and feet, he was both 
homely and awkward. As Lincoln went 
about the neighborhood, without coat or 
collar, his trousers stuffed into the tops 
of his muddy cowhide boots, there was nothing in his looks 
to mark any future greatness. 

The pioneer people of Indiana, however, valued a man’s 
strength, not his looks, and Lincoln’s strength matched his 
size. He could strike a heavier blow with the maul used in 
splitting rails, and could sink an axe deeper into a tree than 
could any other man in that part of the country. The axe 
was Lincoln’s favorite tool. From the time he was seven 
until he was twenty-two, it was seldom far from his hand. 
All through the rest of his life he loved to grasp it. His 

246 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


247 


usual trick of strength was to take a heavy axe by the 
extreme end of the handle, stretch out his arm horizontally 
at full length, and thus hold the axe parallel with the ground. 
Few men could imitate this exhibition of power. 

Lazy or Clever.—As Abe Lincoln could beat every one 
thereabout in chopping and wrestling, so no one could “ hold 
a candle ” to him in cleverness. In fact, he preferred to 
read, to write or to talk, rather than to work. “ He was no 
hand to pitch into his work as if^ killing snakes,” said one 
who knew him. Though when he did undertake any manual 
labor he did it well, Abe’s happiest hours were spent other¬ 
wise. Almost every evening he went to the grocery store of 
Gentryville, the nearest village, to meet the men and boys of 
the neighborhood. Mr. Jones, the storekeeper, subscribed 
to a Louisville newspaper, which was a good thing for Abe, 
who read each weekly number. Then he talked over the 
current events with his friends. After a time, when Abe 
began to speak, every one stopped to listen, for he had a 
good memory and a gift of speech. He used simple, rough 
language, but he expressed his sensible thoughts clearly. He 
was also a natural storyteller and joker. Many an evening 
the crowd in the store stayed until midnight enjoying his 
witty sayings, his funny tales, and the rhymes that he strung 
together on the spur of the moment. 

When working with other men in the fields, Abe often 
stopped to give them a “ stump speech.” Jumping up on a 
stump as a platform, he repeated the last sermon he had 
heard, or a lawyer’s speech in court, or his own ideas on 
some political topic. Whatever might be the subject of 
Abe’s talk, the speech was never tiresome. His laughing, 
applauding hearers always forgot about work until the angry 
employer rushed to the spot and dragged Abe off the stump. 

Employers whose work thus suffered were apt to say 
that Lincoln was lazy rather than clever. “ I used to get 


248 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


mad at him for always reading and thinking,” said one man. 
“ He didn’t love work half so much as he did his pay.” But 
Abe could not help exercising his mind. He looked beyond 
the backwoods to the big world outside. When he plowed 
alone in the field, he carried in his coat-pocket a book. At 
the end of each row, as he rested his horses for a few 
minutes, out would come the book. Thus, as he remarked, 
“ I learned by littles.” People who have intelligence enough 
to take advantage of every moment deserve to succeed. 
Lincoln certainly was not lazy when it came to learning. 
“ He was always reading, scribbling, or ciphering,” observed 
Abe’s cousin Dennis. 

Abe’s First Dollar.—Gentryville was not far from the 
big and muddy Ohio River, the great road by means of 
which the Indiana settlers traded with the rest of the world. 
It was then the practice for farmers to collect some corn or 
wheat or bacon, put it on a flat-boat, float down to New 
Orleans or some other Mississippi River town, sell the cargo, 
and walk back home if they could not afford steamer passage. 
Eighteen-year-old Abraham was seized with ambition to 
make such a voyage. After much persuasion he got the 
consent of his parents; then he set to work and built a small 
flat-boat to carry his few barrels of produce. 

One day Abraham stood on the river bank looking at 
his new boat and pondering how it might be made still 
stronger and better, when two wagons, each carrying a man 
and a trunk, drove up. The men wished to go on board an 
approaching steamboat. As they looked over the various 
floating craft along the shore, Abraham’s pleased them 
most. “ Who owns this boat? ” asked one of the strangers. 
“ I do,” responded Abe. “ Will you take us out to the 
steamer? ” “ Certainly,” answered Abe, glad of the chance 

to earn something for himself. 

Abe put the trunks into the flat-boat, and each passenger 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


249 


seated himself on his trunk. With Abe sculling at the long 
stern-oar, they went out to the waiting steamer. The men 
climbed aboard; Abe lifted the heavy boxes over the rail, 
and the vessel began to puff again. “ You have forgotten to 
pay me,” cried Abe, in a fright lest he should lose the 
expected money. Each man took out a silver half-dollar 
and threw it clinking down on the bottom of Abe’s boat. 

Could Abe believe his eyes ? In less than an hour he had 
earned as much as he could make by four days’ toil in the 
harvest-field. And it was the first money he had ever had for 
his own. Would it not be well to get out into the world, 
where money circulated so freely? There might be a good 
chance somewhere in the great United States for even a 
poor backwoods fellow to succeed. “ I was a more hopeful 
and thoughtful boy from that time,” said Lincoln. 

On the Great Rivers.—Soon after this time, Mr. Gentry, 
from whom the village received its name, decided to send 
his son Allen to New Orleans with a flat-boat load of 
produce. Abe Lincoln was then working for Mr. Gentry. 
Who would be a better companion for young Allen than 
strong Abe ? Lincoln for some reason had not yet made his 
trip down the river, and he jumped at the chance to go. 
The two young fellows started off in high spirits. 

Drifting down the Ohio toward the Mississippi, they 
traded as they went. Then the vas* “ Father of Waters ” 
carried them southward toward New Orleans. One evening 
they tied up a a plantation near Baton Rouge. In the night 
seven of the plantation slaves stole aboard the boat, thinking 
that they could soon dispose of, two boys. The swift current 
of the river would soon carry away the dead bodies and the 
slaves would have the goods. But the negroes did not know 
the boys with whom they had to deal. 

Allen Gentry awoke, and heard the footsteps of the 
slaves. “ Bring the guns, Lincoln! ” he cried. There were 


250 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


no guns on board, but Abe brought something else hard to 
face—a big club. For a few minutes there was an exciting 
battle on the flat-boat, seven against two; but Abe and Allen, 
feeling that they were fighting not only for their property 
but their very lives, attacked so fiercely that the negroes 
could not endure. The slaves fled into the night, and the 
two boys pursued them for some distance. Then, bleeding 
but happy, the Indiana victors thought it wise to return to 
the boat and push off again do'wn stream. For the rest of 
his life Abraham Lincoln carried a scar on his forehead to 
remind him of that desperate midnight battle. 

The rest of the voyage had no special incident. The 
boys sold their boat and cargo in New Orleans. When they 
returned home Mr. Gentry felt well pleased with the success 
of their trip. This marked a milestone on Abe’s path. He 
had gone out into the world, had seen far-off regions, and 
had known a little adventure. Though by law he was still 
bound to his father, he felt that he was now a man. 

The Journey to Illinois. Abe Leaves Home.—In the 
spring of 1830, when Abe was twenty-one, two years after 
his flat-boat trip, his father decided to move his home once 
more and go to the central part of Illinois. Two other 
families went with the Lincolns. Each family packed its 
goods into a big wagon drawn by oxen, and in the chilly 
March weather the caravan set out. Abe, now having come 
of age, did not need to accompany his father, but he chose 
to do so. In spite of the hardships and poverty of his life 
in Indiana, he felt sorry to leave the state. From a hill he 
took a last look at his boyhood home and the graves of his 
mother and sister. It was fourteen years before he saw 
them again. 

Northwest the caravan pursued its way. They crossed 
the Wabash River at Vincennes, where, many years before, 
George Rogers Clark had captured the British fort. At 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


251 


Vincennes Abe saw a printing-press for the first time. After 
two weeks of travel over muddy roads and across flooded 
streams, the party reached their journey's end, near the town 
of Decatur. Lincoln and his father put up another log 
cabin, split an additional lot of logs into rails, and fenced in 
ten acres of ground, in which they planted com. 

II. MANY TRADES 

Abe Keeps Store.—For nearly a year Lincoln worked as 
a farm-hand and backwoodsman in the new neighborhood. 
His skill and speed in splitting rails were in great demand. 
Once, when he needed a pair of trousers, he paid for them 
by making four hundred rails for every yard of cloth needed 
No doubt Abraham felt very fine when he put on his new 
trousers, dyed brown with walnut bark. They had to last 
him for a long, time. 

Abe now hired himself to Denton Offutt for another 
flat-boat trip down the Mississippi. This time Abe was to 
be captain. He chopped down trees on the bank of the 
Sangamon River, sawed out planks, and built the boat. The 
voyage down the Sangamon to the Illinois River, which 
flows into the Mississippi, had only one mishap. The boat 
stuck upon a mill-dam, but Lincoln cleverly released it. 
When he reached New Orleans Lincoln stayed there a month. 
It was a great slave city. Abe saw negroes chained and 
whipped; he saw them sold like cattle; and his kind heart 
rose in rebellion against these practices. “ If I ever get a 
chance to hit slavery,” he said, “ I’ll hit it hard.” 

Mr. Offutt was so pleased with Lincoln that on Abe s 
return he gave him charge of a store which he was opening 
in the new village of New Salem. This hamlet was on the 
Sangamon River, and happened to be the place where Abe’s 
boat had run upon the dam. It had two stores, a grist-mill, 
a saw mill, a tavern and fifteen houses, all built of logs. We 


252 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


do not know how honest the other storekeeper was, but we 
do know that he could not have surpassed Abe. 

On one occasion Lincoln found that he had given a 
customer six and a quarter cents in change too little. That 
evening, after the store closed, he walked three miles out into 
the country to return the money. Another evening, just 
before closing time, a woman came in for a half pound of 
tea. In the dim light Lincoln hastily weighed out the tea; 
but the next morning he saw that he had used only a four- 
ounce weight. He wrapped up another quarter pound, 
closed the store and at once delivered the extra tea. 

People admired the young clerk for his uprightness. 
They began to call him “ Honest Abe.” Abe allowed no 
swearing in the store when women were about; if any one 
objected, he thrashed that person soundly. But on the other 
hand, the men of New Salem delighted to come to Offutt’s 
store in order to hear Abe’s comical “ yams.” Mr. Offutt 
saw that Abe made the store agreeable to both men and 
women, and was delighted with his clerk. He liked to say, 
“ Abe Lincoln hasn’t an equal in the United States,” and 
usually wound up by remarking, “ He can whip or throw 
any man in Sangamon County.” This boast nearly caused 
serious trouble. 

The Clary’s Grove Boys.—Near New Salem was another 
settlement called Clary’s Grove. The dozen or so young 
fellows who lived there were a rough set, and liked to haze 
strangers. Fighting was their chief sport, and they kept 
New Salem in terror. Hearing Mr. Offutt praise Abe’s 
strength, they appointed their best man, Jack Armstrong, to 
wrestle with Lincoln. The “ Clary’s Grove Boys ” were 
not renowned for fair play, so Lincoln tried to avoid the 
match,, but at last was obliged to consent' lest they think him 
a coward. 

Jack Armstrong was a “ powerful twister, as strong as 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


253 


an ox.” All the men of the two villages turned out to 
witness the contest. It was long and hard, but neither 
wrestler seemed able to win. “ Now, Jack, let’s quit,” said 
Lincoln, but Jack rushed at him again and tried a “ foul.” 
Lincoln grew furious; grasping Armstrong by the throat, 
he shook him like a rag. The “ Boys ” rushed to help their 
leader, but Lincoln, with blazing eyes, his back against the 
wall of the store, cried in trumpet tones above the uproar, 
“ I’ll fight all Clary’s Grove, if I have to! ” 

Such a speech captured Armstrongs heart. As soon as 
he caught his breath he burst out, “ Boys, Abe Lincoln is 
the best fellow that ever broke into the settlement. He shall 
be one of us,” There was no more talk of fight. The Clary’s 
Grove boys after that made Lincoln the umpire at their cock¬ 
fights and horseraces; and often he was also a peacemaker. 

Studying Grammar.—Before he had been in New Salem 
six months Lincoln was the most popular person in the whole 
region. Abe began to feel power growing within him. 
“Why shouldn’t I try for a public position?” he thought. 
“ People think well of me, and I can make good speeches. 
I am going to work for that, anyhow.” In order to 
improve his public speaking, Lincoln walked seven or eight 
miles to debating clubs. He found out that he was laughed 
at for his mistakes in English, so he applied for help to the 
schoolmaster, Mr. Graham. 

“If you want to go before the public,” said Mr. 
Graham, “ you must study grammar.” “ Where can I get 
a grammar? ” asked Lincoln, who was sitting at a table with 
his friend. Mr. Graham replied that there was but one such 
book anywhere about, and the man who owned it lived six 
miles away. Lincoln rose from the table, walked straight to 
the place, and came back in triumph with the book. He spent 
all his spare time over it, and worried his friends by asking 
them to hear his lessons. 


254 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


The whole village became interested in Lincoln’s prog¬ 
ress. The schoolmaster explained all difficulties ; the carpen¬ 
ter let Lincoln use his shop at night and keep up a bright 
fire of shavings by which to study. In a few weeks Abe had 
mastered the book. “ Well,” said Lincoln, “ if that’s what 
they call a science, I think I’ll go at another.” Evidently 
grammar had not seemed hard. 

A Call to Arms.—At the end of the winter Lincoln made 
up his mind to launch forth into politics. Though he was 
but twenty-two, he boldly announced himself as a candidate 
to represent his district in the Illinois legislature. A month 
after Abraham had done so, his plans were interrupted, for 
he was summoned to war. Black Hawk, an Indian chief, 
thinking he had been wronged by the whites, had invaded 
Illinois, his old home. The governor sent out messengers 
calling for mounted volunteers, and Lincoln, with several of 
his Clary’s Grove friends, answered the call. Enough other 
men from the neighborhood enlisted to make a company, 
and they elected Lincoln as captain. 

Lincoln’s men were a hard set to handle. They liked 
their captain, but they were not accustomed to obeying any 
one. Once they stole a lot of liquor; next morning, when 
the command to march was given, half of them were too 
drunk to walk. The commanding officer of the army then 
took away Captain Lincoln’s sword and made him carry a 
wooden sword for two days as a disgrace. As time went 
on, however, the soldiers obeyed better and better. Even 
when they wanted to kill an old friendly Indian who 
wandered into camp, they finally listened to Lincoln’s orders 
and spared ‘the Indian’s life. 

At the end of three months Lincoln returned to New 
Salem. The Indians had been chased out of Illinois, but 
Lincoln had seen no enemies. He was more pleased, how¬ 
ever, with saving the life of one good Indian than if he had 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


255 


killed several bad ones. “ I am no military hero,” he said. 
“ Probably if I ever got into a battle I would run away.” 
He did not know that he would head the nation during four 
years of dreadful war. Those who saw him later in posts of 
danger never thought him cowardly. 

Store or Law?—By the time Abraham returned, there 
were but ten days left before the election. He was a Henry 
Clay man, and most of the people in Illinois stood for 
Andrew Jackson. Abraham made as many speeches as pos¬ 
sible throughout the county, but being almost unknown out¬ 
side of his own neighborhood, he was defeated. In his own 
election district of New Salem, however, almost every one of 
the Jackson men voted for the Clay candidate, “ Honest 
Abe.” That was some comfort. 

Lincoln now made up his mind to go back into the grocery 
business. His former employer had failed and had left 
town, but there were three grocery stores in the little place. 
Lincoln had no money; nevertheless he was perfectly willing 
to buy a store. By a curious combination of circumstances, 
he and a young man named Berry succeeded in purchasing 
all three stores without paying a cent in cash; then they 
gayly began business. 

One day a man who was emigrating to the West stopped 
his wagon in front of the store of the new firm. “Will 
you buy this barrel of odds-and-ends that I haven’t room 
for? ” he asked Lincoln. Abraham handed over half a dollar, 
took the barrel, and set it away without examination. Some¬ 
time later he came across it; he emptied its contents on the 
floor, and found at the bottom a set of law books. 

All books were interesting to Lincoln. It was summer, 
the farmers were busy with their crops, and customers were 
few. He began to study the law books, and the more he 
read the more interested he became. Day after day he sat 
outside the store under a tree, with one of the precious 


256 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


volumes in his hand. As the shadow moved around the tree, 
Lincoln, like a clock-hand, would move with it. Meanwhile 
Berry was left to manage the store, and Berry did so by 
spending on drink and gambling all the money which he 
could secure. 

A Surveyor Just in Time.—Finally Lincoln saw that 
the store would not be a success. The county surveyor, 
who needed an intelligent and honest assistant, asked Lincoln 
if he would like to learn the business, and the offer was 
gladly accepted. Abraham knew nothing at all about sur¬ 
veying, but he determined to learn at once. His school¬ 
master friend Mr. Graham helped, as he had done in the 
case of grammar, but this new science was not so easy. 
Day and night Lincoln sat at his books. His friends feared 
that he would kill himself with study, but Lincoln’s strong 
body carried him through. Haggard and worn, in six weeks 
he surprised the surveyor by reporting for duty. 

Lincoln’s work as a surveyor was always well done, and 
the pay he received, when he was employed, was high for 
that time and place. Three dollars a day was the sum, more 
than the young man had ever before earned. 1 But Lincoln 
was not employed every day, and he had to run in debt for 
his horse and his surveying outfit. 

Scarcely had Lincoln begun his work as a surveyor when 
he fell into misfortune. The unsuccessful store had been 
sold, but only a note for the price had been received by 
Lincoln and his partner. Before the note came due the 
new storekeepers disappeared, and Lincoln and Berry were 
left with no money to pay their own debts. Berry died, 

*At that time, in Illinois, a new region, good board and lodging 
could be secured for a dollar a week. Every man was required to drill 
in the militia twice a year or pay a dollar each time and “as the 
dollar was hard to raise,” said an old settler, “ almost all the men came 
to drill.” 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


257 


and the whole debt of eleven hundred dollars fell upon 
Lincoln. He could have wriggled out of paying, but that 
was not “ Honest Abe’s ” way. “ If you will not press me/’ 
said Lincoln to his creditors, “ I will see that you get your 
money.” It was fifteen years or more before the debt, with 
its high interest, was finally paid off, but paid it was. 

III. A LEADER AT LAW 

Winning the Election. —For a year Lincoln kept up his 
surveying. It gave him a fairly good income and a chance 
to add to his long list of friends. The business called him 
to travel to all parts of Sangamon County, and everywhere 
the people called Abe a “ smart young man.” Some even 
went so far as to say that he would one day become governor 
of Illinois. 

When the next election for members of the Illinois legis¬ 
lature drew near, Lincoln again came forward as a candi¬ 
date. Many times, during the long, hot summer days, he 
was seen riding along the dusty roads. He made speeches 
in the public squares of the villages, in little groves, and 
wherever else he could get a group of people together. Some¬ 
times he took part in wrestling matches or trials of strength 
in lifting; sometimes he joined the farmers in splitting rails 
or harvesting grain. “ He’s a good fellow,” said those who 
saw and heard him, “ and he’s sensible, too.” Lincoln, now 
twenty-five years old, was elected to go to the legislature for 
two years. Three times the people sent him back there, 
because he had proved himself worthy of their trust. 

Reading Himself into the Law.— While Lincoln was 
traveling about the country, making himself known to the 
people, he often met another candidate, an older man, Major 
Stuart. These two friends, who had served together in the 
Black Hawk War, had many an interesting conversation. 
Major Stuart was a lawyer in Springfield, the largest town 

17 


258 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


of the state. As they jogged along, Lincoln told -Stuart 
that he had made a beginning in reading law, and that he 
wished to continue his studies. “ I’ll lend you any book I 
have,” instantly said Stuart. 

This was a good opportunity. As soon as Abraham 
found himself a member of the legislature he began his 
course of study. Springfield lay twenty miles from New 
Salem, and in order to borrow or return books Abe often 
walked there and back in a day, cutting across country, over 
the unfenced prairie and through the woods. As he strode 
upon his long journey he paused frequently to read para¬ 
graphs in the volumes he carried; then, walking on again, 
Lincoln recited his lesson aloud. In two years he received 
a license to practice law, though, as Lincoln slyly said, “ I 
was never enough of a lawyer 1 to hurt me.” 

An Important Decision.—Lincoln then decided to make 
the bold step of giving up his profitable occupation of sur¬ 
veying and launching out as a lawyer. Springfield, where 
he was so well known, seemed the best place to settle. One 
April day in 1839 Lincoln set out for Springfield to seek his 
fortune. Cyrus McCormick and he might well have shaken 
hands upon it, if they had only known each other. Both 
young men at twenty-eight were short of money and very 
doubtful as to the future. But each had force of character 
enough to make the important decision of his life. 

An Ideal Lawyer.—As Lincoln rode into Springfield he 
looked both queer and sad. His borrowed horse was too 
small for him, and his long legs nearly touched the ground. 
The bulging saddle-bags which were thrown across the 
pony’s shoulders held only a few small articles of clothing; 
their main weight consisted of law-books. In the pocket of 
Abe’s ill-fitting suit were seven dollars—his total wealth. 
A friend, however, offered him board until he could earn 
money, and another friend shared his bed with Lincoln. In 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


259 


a few days Major Stuart asked Lincoln to be his partner. 
Thus through the good-will and old-time hospitality of his 
three friends Lincoln’s troubling problems were solved. 

The firm of Stuart and Lincoln did not become rich 
through practicing law, but made a fair living. Lincoln 
grew noted for hurting his own business. When people 
came to him with a dispute he tried to make them settle it 
peaceably. “ In law,” he said, “ the winner of a case is 
often a loser.” Usually, also, under the spell of Lincoln’s 
kindly ways, the former enemies left his office as good 
friends. But such settlements did not bring large fees. If 
Lincoln was asked to support a case which seemed to him 
wrong, he flatly refused. It seemed strange to certain 
persons that a poor lawyer should deliberately discourage 
clients from giving him money, but “ Honest Abe ” did so. 

Kentucky Young Folks Meet.—The young lawyer 
received invitations to almost all the social entertainments in 
the town. Though he was always polite to the young ladies, 
he paid them little attention; but a circle of men always 
gathered about him to hear his funny stories. One day, 
however, Miss Mary Todd arrived to make her home in 
Springfield. Here at last was a young lady to whom Lincoln 
did pay great attention. Stephen Douglas, another young 
lawyer, determined to cut Lincoln out, and as he excelled 
Lincoln in good looks and accomplishments, it seemed for 
a time as though he would succeed. Finally, however, 
Lincoln bore off the prize, and Miss Mary Todd became 
Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. 

Mrs. Lincoln, like her husband, was a native of 
Kentucky. The young people received an invitation to go 
there as a honeymoon trip, to visit a friend, but Lincoln was 
too poor. “ A month lost out of my work would take away 
the profits of a year,” he said. Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln there¬ 
fore took up their abode at the Globe Tavern in Springfield, 


260 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


where they paid the great sum of two dollars a week apiece 
for their board and lodging. A year later a little son, Robert 
Todd Lincoln, was born to them, and they bought a small 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND HIS SON “TAD” 

From a photograph by Brady, now in the War Department 
Collection, Washington, D. C. 


frame house. Here they lived very plainly. Abraham milked 
the cow and fed the horse, which they kept in a tiny barn 
behind the house. 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


261 


A Fresh Step Forward. —Now Lincoln prepared to take 
another step forward in political life. He had been in the 
state legislature long enough to prepare for larger work, so 
he refused another nomination and announced that he 
wanted to represent his district in Congress. He was 
defeated, just as he had been in his first trial for the legis¬ 
lature, but four years later he won the day. 

One evening, just before Lincoln started off for Wash¬ 
ington, Mrs. Lincoln entertained a number of friends. A 
gentleman chanced to remark to her: “ Mr. Lincoln is a 
great favorite in this part of the state.” “ Yes,” she replied, 
“ he is a great favorite everywhere. He will be President 
of the United States some day; if I hadn’t thought so I never 
would have married him, for you see he is not pretty. But 
look at him! Doesn’t he look as if he would make a magnifi¬ 
cent President? ” Her hearer found it hard to agree with 
the word “magnificent.” That was not the adjective to 
describe Lincoln. He gazed at the homely, awkward giant, 
who never seemed to be dressed up, and thought, “ Mrs. 
Lincoln, you are making a great mistake; you are sure to 
be disappointed.” 

To Congress and Back.— In November, 1847, Lincoln 
took the train for Washington. As it whirled him along, 
perhaps he thought of the slow ox-team which had brought 
him to Illinois and compared it with the swift iron horse 
which was bearing him away. That iron horse had not yet 
been used in America when Lincoln was a boy. When 
Abraham reached the nation’s capital he found a city better 
than in Jefferson’s day but much inferior to the beautiful 
Washington of the present century. The Capitol had no 
dome and was less than half its present size. The streets 
were unpaved. The parks and circles, though laid out on 
the city plan, had not been beautified. There was nothing 
except national business to attract visitors. 

Lincoln soon made himself known by his speeches. 


262 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


People called him “ able, acute, uncouth, honest and upright.” 
In fact, they needed a string of terms, more of praise than 
of blame, to describe such a man, for they had never seen 
one just like him. The speeches he made were so admired 
that he was asked to make a speaking tour through New 
England. As Lincoln went through Massachusetts he 
learned how much feeling against slavery there was in the 
North. He heard Governor Seward make an address on 
the subject in Boston, and that night, as he sat talking to 
Seward, Lincoln said gravely, “ I have been thinking about 
what you said in your speech. I reckon you are right. We 
have got to deal with the slavery question.” 

But the time to deal with slavery so as to end it had not 
yet come. Lincoln’s term in Congress drew to a close. He 
considered that another candidate should have the chance, so 
he took up once more the practice of law, and soon was 
recognized to be the leading lawyer of Illinois. 

IV. THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE 

Lincoln Against Douglas.—After a time Lincoln came 
forward for the position of United States Senator, to rep¬ 
resent Illinois and to try to keep slavery out of any new 
states that might be added to the nation. Curiously enough, 
the man against whom Lincoln was matched was Stephen A. 
Douglas, who eighteen years before had been Lincoln’s rival 
for the hand of Mary Todd. 

Douglas was the exact opposite of Lincoln in looks, in 
manners, and in character. Douglas was short, thick-set, 
and ruddy; Lincoln was long, lank, and dark-complexioned. 
Douglas had smooth polished ways, and a How of elegant 
language; Lincoln’s plain manners and backwoods expres¬ 
sions often seemed out of place in fine society. Douglas had 
climbed faster and farther than Lincoln. He had gained 
wealth, dressed well, and spent money freely; Lincoln’s 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


263 


income was far from great and his clothes always looked as 
though they were second-hand. But in character Lincoln 
was vastly superior. He was unselfish, to the last degree; at 
bottom Douglas thought only of himself. Lincoln valued 
truth, justice and right more than success; Douglas was will¬ 
ing to sacrifice all these to gain his own ends. 

Lincoln and Douglas differed, moreover, in regard to 
political questions. Lincoln stood firmly against slavery. 

“ This evil shall not be allowed to spread,” said he. Douglas 
tried to carry water on both shoulders. He wanted the votes 
of the North and he needed the votes of the South; so he 
tried to talk and act in a way that would satisfy both regions, 
hoping thus to gain the support of both and to become 
President. Being a clever man, he succeeded very well until 
Lincoln entered the field against him. 

Abe the Giant-Killer.—As Douglas was short in stature 
but great in speech, his many admirers called him the “ Little 
Giant.” The “Little Giant” had already been Senator 
from Illinois for nearly twelve years. That post he con¬ 
sidered as his own, and he bitterly resented the fact that 
Lincoln disputed his claim. Lincoln in truth was not fight¬ 
ing Douglas, but slavery, yet Douglas might well tremble. 
Backed by his good cause, Lincoln was a dangerous foe. 

“ A house divided .against itself cannot stand,” said 
Lincoln. “ I believe the government cannot endure half¬ 
slave and half free. It must become all one or all the other.” 
He challenged Douglas to a series of debates about the 
slavery question. Douglas had no desire to meet Lincoln in 
this way. “ He is the best man the Republicans have,” 
secretly remarked Douglas. “I shall have my hands full. 
It will be no easy task.” But Lincoln had challenged him, 
and there was no way out. 

Seven debates were arranged in various parts of the 
state. The friends of Douglas loudly boasted that the 


264 


OUR COUNTRY’S HEADERS 


“ Little Giant ” would “ chaw up Old Abe.” They gave 
their candidate a special railroad train, gayly decorated with 
posters and banners. He was met at the station of each 
large town by a brass band, and was escorted to the best 
hotel, while a salute of thirty-two cannon was fired, one for 
each state in the Union. Lincoln, riding with his friends in 
an ordinary day-coach, or even in the caboose of a freight 
train, was sometimes put on a side-track to let the train of 
Douglas sweep by. As Lincoln’s friends could not compete 
with those of Douglas in making a show, they often tried to 
prove how plain they could be. While Douglas rode through 
the town streets in a handsome carriage, Lincoln would 
be drawn about in a hay-wagon, with a banner reading, 
“ Abe the Giant-Killer.” 

The debators were fairly equal in power, but Lincoln 
had a wonderful advantage in one respect—he was not 
afraid of the truth. His pointed questions made Douglas 
squirm, for Douglas did not want to speak out clearly. At 
last the “ Giant-Killer ” cornered Douglas. He asked a 
question so that Douglas had to answer in a way that was 
plainly against slavery. “ Douglas will beat you now,” said 
Lincoln’s friends to him. “ I don’t care,” answered Lincoln, 
“ I have him where I want him. He can never be President.” 

That was true. Though Douglas won the office of 
Senator on this occasion, it was his last triumph. The 
Southerners would have nothing more to do with him, and 
as the cloud of trouble thickened between the North and the 
South, the earnest Northerners felt that Douglas was not 
sincere enough for them. They turned to the man who had 
foiled the double-dealing of Douglas, the man who had stood 
firm on right principles, the man who cared more for the 
truth than for political honors. In 1860 they elected Lincoln 
President of the United States. 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


265 


The Election Storm.—The Southern people considered 
that the election of Lincoln meant the death of slavery. 
Carried away by their disappointment, they forgot that 
Lincoln was not an abolitionist. Though hating slavery, he 
did not intend to interfere with it where it was already estab¬ 
lished. But the slaveholders said, “We are through with 
the Union.” Four days after the election, South Carolina 
began to take measures to “ secede.” Six weeks later, that 
state declared itself independent of the Federal Government. 
Nowhere in South Carolina did the Stars and Stripes float 
except over Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, where Major 
Anderson with a few soldiers refused to haul down his 
country’s flag. 

Soon six more Southern states joined their seceding 
sister. The seven states formed a union of their own, called 
it “ The Confederate States of America,” and elected 
Jefferson Davis of Mississippi their President. All was 
excitement in both South and North. What would Lincoln 
do ? He had no right to do anything yet, for he had not yet 
become the head of the nation. Old President Buchanan 
himself was a lover of the Union, but he thought that it was 
not right to force the Southern states to stay in it. Old 
General Scott, the head of the army, agreed with Buchanan. 
What did Lincoln think? 

There was no doubt as to Lincoln’s opinions. ‘ The 
tug is to come,” he said. “ Better now than later. Make no 
agreement to let slavery be extended. On that point hold 
firm, as with a chain of steel. If we surrender, it is the end 
of us and of the government.” There was no doubt on 
either side of the Mason and Dixon line as to the stand of 
Abraham Lincoln. 

Lincoln was to take his place as President in March, 
1861. Six weeks before that time he settled up his private 
affairs and began to say good-bye to his old friends in 


266 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Springfield. He made a toilsome journey over bad roads to 
bid farewell to his “ second mother,” Sally Lincoln, and 
to visit his father’s grave. Sally Lincoln was now a very 
old woman. “ I’ll never see you again, Abe,” she sobbed. 
“ They’ll kill you down in Washington.” Lincoln laughed at 
her fears and left the old lady comforted, but events proved 
that she was wise in being suspicious. 

At last came the day when Lincoln set out for Wash¬ 
ington. As the train bore him and a party of friends 
through Illinois and Indiana, the farmers crowded to see 
the farmer-boy who had grown so great. “ Good-bye Abe,” 
they shouted. “ Stick to the Constitution, and we’ll stick 
to you!” 

It was suspected that a plot was laid to murder Lincoln, 
so he slipped into Washington secretly. About a week 
later came the inauguration. Many men had wagered that 
Lincoln would never be allowed to live to be President, so a 
strong guard of cavalry protected his carriage. United 
States sharpshooters crouched on the roofs along Penn¬ 
sylvania Avenue, troops lined the street and kept the swarm¬ 
ing crowds in order, but Lincoln, deep in thought as he rode, 
seemed indifferent to the excitement. His mind was on his 
address, in which he tried to quiet the South. “We are not 
enemies, but friends,” rang out his peaceful message to the 
lovers of slavery. 

The Southern leaders thought that the Northern people 
would not fight to keep the seceding states in the Union. 
They misjudged the North and its leader Lincoln. He 
decided to send help to Major Anderson, who still refused to 
give up Fort Sumter. The Southern guns fired on the 
steamers which Lincoln sent, then began to bombard the 
fort, which soon was forced to surrender. “ Sumter has 
been fired upon! This is war! ” rang the tidings through 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


267 


the North. On the day after Sumter fell Lincoln called for 
seventy-five thousand volunteers to put down the rebellion. 

“ Abe the Giant-Killer ” was determined to destroy the 
giant of secession; but neither North nor South realized the 
terrible nature of the struggle which now began. For the 
first time in the history of our country two Presidents stood 
opposed. Jefferson Davis, the slave-holding planter of the 



A BATTERY DIRECTED AGAINST FORT SUMTER 


South, had challenged the Western leader who had sworn to 
keep slavery chained within bounds. Which would win? 
Both leaders were confident, but those who knew Lincoln 
well could have told Davis that “ Old Abe ” was a hard man 
to beat. 


V. BEARING THE NATION’S BURDEN 

Lincoln in Office.—During the four years of the Civil 
War the White House was not a gay place. This was not 
the time for banquets or grand entertainments, and the 
President and Mrs. Lincoln lived quite simply. Often they 
went driving in the Presidential carriage for rest and 






268 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


pleasure, and sometimes attended the theatre, but Lincoln 
was never happier than when at home with his two younger 
boys, Willie and Thomas. 2 Willie was a quiet boy of ten 
when the Lincoln family moved into the White House, but 
eight-year-old Thomas, or “ Tad,” as he was called, kept 
everything in his neighborhood in commotion. 

So enormous were the calls on the President’s time, how¬ 
ever, that most of Lincoln’s waking hours were spent in his 
office on the second floor of the White House. From the 
large windows of that big sunny room could be seen nearby 
the unfinished Washington Monument, and, beyond the 
yellow Potomac River, the blue hills of Virginia, As 
Lincoln gazed at those hills, so near, but in enemy country, 
perhaps his eye turned to the gleaming monument; perhaps 
he thought then of himself as striving to hold together the 
nation of which Washington had been the foremost founder 
and the first President. 

In that office, day after day, sat the President with his 
secretaries. Always a light sleeper and an early riser, he 
was often at his desk by six o’clock in the morning. A con¬ 
stant stream of callers besieged this door during office hours. 
Although a messenger sat at the door to admit only those 
whom Lincoln wished to see, most callers found it easy to 
gain admission if they had patience to wait. Place-hunters, 
favor-seekers, help-needers, Lincoln listened patiently to 
them all. 

To make it still easier for people to reach him, twice a 
week the President threw open the doors of his office and 
let all who wished come in. The long line of visitors found 
Lincoln, wearing a plain black suit, but with slippers instead 
of shoes, seated in an arm-chair beside the big table around 
which met his Cabinet. To each caller he gave an encourag¬ 
ing nod and smile; to each he gave close attention; and if he 

2 Robert, the eldest son, was then studying at Harvard College. 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN 269 

felt compelled to say “ No,” it was with regret that it could 
not be “Yes.” “Why do you devote so much of your 
valuable strength and time to these common people, Mr. 
President? ” many persons asked. “Because I am one of 
them,” was the answer. One who knew him well said. 


Copyright, 1900, by McClure, Phillips & Co. 

GRAND REVIEW OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN 
AT FALMOUTH, VIRGINIA, IN APRIL, 1863 


“ The people came to him as to a father.” There had never 
been a President just like him, at once so strong and 
so kindly. 

Anxious Days.—It was a time, as Thomas Paine said 
about the Revolution, “ that tried men’s souls.” Upon the 
shoulders of Lincoln rested the heaviest burden of all; but 
he set himself manfully to his great task, though on every 
side he met fault-finding, abuse, and actual treason. Lincoln, 







270 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


however, cared nothing for his own pride if he could but 
save the nation. 

In the first two years of the war, matters went badly for 
the North. Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson 
seemed more than a match for Generals McClellan, Burnside 
and Hooker. Battles were fought just outside of Wash¬ 
ington, and the defeated Union soldiers, wounded, tired and 
discouraged, streamed back into the city. 

A visitor one day asked Lincoln for a pass through the 
Union lines. “ I don’t think my passes are worth much,” 
said the President. “I have given McClellan and two 
hundred thousand soldiers passes to go to Richmond, and 
they haven’t gotten there yet.” Another visitor asked: 
“ Mr. President, how many men have the Confederates in 
their armies?” “About twelve hundred thousand,” replied 
Lincoln with a grave manner, but with a twinkle in his eye. 
“Can it be possible?” cried the visitor in amazement. 
“ Yes, it must be,” came the answer. “ We have four 
hundred thousand in our forces, and when our generals are 
whipped, they always say they were outnumbered more than 
three to one.” 

Some persons failed to see how Lincoln could joke when 
matters were going wrong. They did not know that his 
jokes were a relief for his overburdened mind and heart. 
Without the funny stories and his romps with Willie and 
Tad, Lincoln would have broken down. “ Whichever way it 
ends,” said he, “ I have the impression that I shan’t last 
long after it’s over.” His friends were shocked to see how 
fast he seemed to grow older. Gray appeared in his bushy 
black hair; the furrows deepened in his gaunt face, which 
appeared even thinner because of the beard that he now 
wore; there was an expression of sadness in his sunken eyes. 
“ The tired part of me is inside,” he declared. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 271 

The Emancipation Proclamation.—“ Victory will come, 
but it comes slowly,” said Lincoln. It was a doubtful time. 
“ I am an anti-slavery man, but my first duty is to save the 
Union,” was the President’s fixed idea. “ If I declare the 
slaves free, I may drive into the Confederate ranks many 
Southern men who are now fighting in the Union army. 
One question at a time. First the Union, then slavery.” 


SIGNING THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 

But as the war went on, Lincoln saw that the millions 
of Southern slaves were a vast help to the Confederates. 
They raised the food for the Southern soldiers, they drove 
the supply wagons, they worked on forts and trenches. 
“ Freeing the slaves will weaken the South,” thought 
Lincoln. “ Unless you stop fighting and acknowledge that 
you are part of the Union, I will declare your slaves free,” 
said he to the Confederate states. They regarded this as an 
idle threat, and continued the war. On New Year’s Day, 
1863, Lincoln therefore issued the famous Emancipation 
Proclamation, which, although it did not abolish slavery, 



272 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


declared every slave free within the country held by the 
Confederate army. 

Though, after the slaves heard the Emancipation Procla¬ 
mation, many escaped to the Union army and many others 
secretly helped the Union soldiers, the Confederates were 
still unbeaten. They defended themselves strongly against 
General Grant on the Mississippi; a large army under Lee 
invaded the North. At Gettysburg General Meade with his 
Union soldiers met Lee’s Confederates. It was a desperate 
three days’ battle, but at last Lee suddenly retreated and 
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington were saved. That 
was the “high-water mark of the rebellion.” Never after¬ 
ward did the Confederates come so near to success. 

The Gettysburg Address.—The state of Pennsylvania 
immediately bought a part of the battle-ground as a cemetery 
for the bodies of the Union soldiers killed in that bloody 
encounter. Edward Everett, the best orator of Mass¬ 
achusetts, was selected as the chief orator at the dedication 
exercises. President Lincoln was also invited to attend and 
to make a short speech. On that November day, Everett, 
white-haired and fine-looking, delivered one of his best ora¬ 
tions. Everything in the two-hour address was beautiful, 
clear and impressive. 

When Everett had finished, Lincoln advanced to the 
front of the platform, put on his spectacles, held a single 
sheet of paper close to his eyes, and in his high voice began 
to read. Not all could hear him, but those who caught the 
words felt their hearts moved and melted. So brief was the 
speech that the photographer who was preparing to take 
Lincoln’s picture found the speech over and Lincoln gone 
before his slow camera was ready; but the address stands 
today as one of our classics. 

Lincoln himself thought but poorly of the address. He 
had written it hurriedly, straight from his heart, with no 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


273 



Lincoln in the Chair of Davis.—On the same Fourth of 
July—“the best since 1776,” said General Sherman—when 
Lee was beaten at Gettysburg, Grant forced the surrender of 
Vicksburg. Now the Union forces, while holding the Con¬ 
federates strongly on the North, closed in on them from the 
west and south. Grant was made commander of all the 
Union armies. With smashing blows he struck the tired 
Southerners. They staggered and at last slowly yielded. The 
Union flag rose over Richmond, the Confederate capital. 

18 


time to “ polish ” its sentences. As he ended he turned to 
Everett, grasped the orator’s hand, and said, “ I congratulate 
you on your success.” “Ah, Mr. President,” responded 
Everett, “ how gladly would I exchange all my hundred 
pages for your twenty lines!” Today we have forgotten 
Everett’s Gettysburg address, but Lincoln’s few words are 
loved and remembered by every educated and true American. 


LAST FORMAL RECEPTION GIVEN AT THE WHITE HOUSE BY 
PRESIDENT LINCOLN 












OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


274 

Lincoln was with General Grant’s army when Richmond 
fell. “ Thank God that I have lived to see this! ” burst from 
his heart. “ It seems to me that I have been dreaming a 
horrid dream for four years, but now the nightmare is gone. 
I want to go into Richmond.” When. Lincoln and his small 
boat-party reached the city, the negroes crowded around him 
and kissed his feet. A great procession of curious people 
accompanied him as he slowly made his way to the White 
House of the Confederacy, the home of Jefferson Davis. 
“ President ” Davis had fled, and Lincoln dropped into 
Davis’s own study-chair to rest. The contest between the 
two leaders had been decided. 

Lincoln’s heart was glad. The days seemed full of sun¬ 
shine. He had just begun his second term as President and 
he expected to devote most of his attention to the question, 
“ How may the South and the North be made one again? ” 
It was most unfortunate for the South that Lincoln’s kindly 
nature had no chance to solve the perplexing problem. 

“ Our President is Dead.”—It was April 14, 1865, 
five days after Lee’s army surrendered to General Grant at 
Appomattox. The President ordered his carriage and took 
an afternoon drive alone with his wife. His mind was full 
of mingled thoughts and feelings, and he wished for a long 
heart-to-heart talk. “ Mary,” said he while they drove along, 
“ we have had a hard time of it since we came to Wash¬ 
ington ; but the war is over. With God’s blessing we may 
hope for four years of peace and happiness, then we will go 
back to Illinois and pass the rest of our lives in quiet.” 

Happy in his dreams of the future, that night the Presi-* 
dent accompanied Mrs. Lincoln to Ford’s Theatre. How 
the people cheered as he entered his flag-draped box above 
the stage! The play was nearing its end when a young half- 
crazy actor, John Wilkes Booth, who had favored the 
Southern cause, stole into the box. Placing a pistol within 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


27 5 


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V«ar Department, Washington, April 20,1865. 




Of our late beloved President, Abraham Lincoln, 

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Municipal Authorities or State Executives. 




’will be paid for the apprehension of JOHN H SUBBAT, one of Booth’s Accomplices. 



Will be paid for the apprehension of David C. Harold, another of Booth’s accomplices. 

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POSTER ANNOUNCING THE REWARD FOR THE APPREHENSION 
OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S ASSASSIN 


























276 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


a foot of Lincoln, he fired, and a ball entered the President’s 
head. Major Rathbone, who was in the box, grappled with 
Booth, but was stabbed. Leaping from the box down upon 
the stage, Booth waved a bloody knife, shouting, “ The 
South is avenged! ” He reached the stage door, mounted 
a waiting horse, and disappeared. Ten thousand cavalry 
were soon on his track, and two weeks later Booth fell dying 
on the floor of a blazing Virginia barn with a shot in his 
own brain. 

The bleeding and unconscious President was tenderly 
carried from the theatre to a house across the street. Mrs. 
Lincoln and Robert, with many more, watched there through 
the night, but there was no hope. Had not Lincoln been 
such a strong man, said the doctors, he would have died 
within an hour. Daylight came, and, soon after, Lincoln 
drew his last breath. The telegraph spread over the country 
the sad news. Work almost ceased. Stores closed. The 
cities of the North were robed in black. Bells were taken 
off the horses which drew the street-cars. Flags hung at 
half-mast. The people groaned, “Our President is dead! ” 

A week later a black train bearing the coffin of Lincoln 
and that of his son Willie, who had died three years before, 
left Washington on its way to the Middle West. It followed 
the same route which four years earlier Lincoln had traveled 
as he came to Washington. Vast crowds assembled along 
the line and stood for hours in darkness or in rain to catch 
one glimpse as the funeral car passed. The spring was 
coming to its height, but there was no gladness in the land. 
The cry of the mourning hearts was, “ Our President 
is dead! ” 

At Springfield old friends and neighbors tenderly 
received the body of their great leader, and it was laid away 
in the beautiful Oakland Cemeterv. His work was done. 
He had given the nation a new freedom and secured it a 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


277 


united and glorious future. The memory of Lincoln is set 
high in our minds and our hearts. With each successive 
year our land reverences him more deeply and sees more 
truly how noble was his life. Side by side stand the great 
Americans—Washington, the founder of the Union; 
Lincoln, its preserver. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

i 

1. Could you say that the two boys, Cyrus and Abraham, were neighbors ? 

2. How were flat-boats usually navigated on the Ohio River? 

3. Where was Abe Lincoln living when the first steamboat went down 

the Ohio ? 

4. How could Lincoln in making change give a customer six and a 

quarter cents too little? 

5. What other famous men managed to become lawyers without passing 

through a law-school? 

6. What did Lincoln mean by saying, “ In law the winner is often a 

loser ” ? 

7. What is meant by saying, “ Lincoln was not an abolitionist ” ? Did 

he not hate slavery? 

8. Tell the story of the attack on Fort Sumter. 

9. What kind of passes did Mr. Lincoln give to General McClellan 

and his soldiers? 

10. What is the special meaning when we speak of Gettysburg as a 

“high-water mark”? 


ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 


CHIEF OF THE BLUE 


“ We are now in the midst of trying times, when every one must 
be for or against his country and show his colors, too, by his every 
# act .”—Letter to his father in 1861. 

I. THE WEST POINT CADET 

Ulysses, the Horse-Lover. —One fine day in May, when 
Abraham Lincoln, no doubt, was working on an Illinois 
farm, young Mrs. Grant of Ohio took her first baby and 
rode ten miles by carriage to show it to 
her father and mother. Of course, the 
grandparents were delighted to see their 
grandson. “What is his name?” they 
asked. “We haven’t named him yet. 
What do you suggest? ” answered Mrs. 
Grant. Every one in the household had 
a favorite. One aunt liked “ Theodore,” 
an uncle preferred “ Albert,” the grand¬ 
father wanted “ Hiram,” a good Bible 
name, and the grandmother chose 
“ Ulysses,” after the wisest soldier of 
the old Greek stories. They shook up in a hat slips of paper 
bearing the names suggested, and the grandmother’s selec¬ 
tion was drawn out first. Then it seemed a shame that the 
grandfather should be disappointed, so the baby went home 
called Hiram Ulysses Grant. 

Mr. Grant, the father, had a tannery in Georgetown, a 
village not far from Cincinnati, and the horses that were 
used to haul the tanbark, the raw hides, and the leather were 
a delight to little Ulysses. When, at three years old, his 

278 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 



ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 


279 


father swung him up to the back of one of the horses, Ulysses 
at once gathered up the reins in his tiny hands and made it 
plain that he thought he could ride without any help. At the 
age of five he did ride alone on the team-horses as the men 
drove them. At seven the boy was trying various circus 
tricks, though he had never seen a circus; and by the time he 
was ten he could ride “ like a monkey.” One of his feats 
was to stand on one bare foot on a sheepskin which took the 
place of a saddle, and balance himself while the horse was 
running at full speed. 

Horses or School? —The neighbors watched, and said, 
“ Liss Grant is far more at home in the saddle than he’ll ever 
be in school.” This ten-year-old youngster had never gone 
to school at all. There were not many schools in southwest 
Ohio at that time. Mr. Grant himself, although a success¬ 
ful business man, had received but little education. He had 
taught himself to write, and he was a great reader, so he 
decided that his son should be well educated. Like many 
busy fathers, however, Mr. Grant left to his equally busy 
wife the early instruction of his boy. Mrs. Grant taught 
Ulysses to read and write, but she did more than that; her 
lessons influenced him to be manly and straightforward. 

When at last he was sent to school, Ulysses did not like it 
much. Arithmetic came easily to him, and he was interested in 
geography because he hoped some day to be a great traveler. 
But neither arithmetic nor geography was half so attractive 
as were his beloved horses. In addition to his tannery, Mr. 
Grant owned and farmed considerable land, and Ulysses 
loved to do any farm-labor in which horses were used. He 
always got a wonderful amount of work from the teams 
with very little trouble, and earned a good sum of money 
by training horses for the neighbors. 

The Future Cadet.—At sixteen the lad had gone through 
the courses that a near-by academy offered, though it can- 


280 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


not be said that he had mastered them. “ It’s time to choose 
your business in life,” said his father. “ Will you go into 
the tannery with me?” “No, I hate it,” replied Ulysses. 
“ What do you want to do, then? ” asked Mr. Grant. “ I’d 
like to be a farmer, or a trader on the Mississippi,” answered 
the boy. “ How would you like to go to the West Point 
Military Academy?” said Mr. Grant, who knew there 
was a vacancy which his son could fill. “First rate,” 
Ulysses declared. 

Upon application to the Congressman from that district, 
the place was given to “ Liss.” But when Mr. Grant came 
home with the news, “ Liss ” had changed his mind, fearing 
that he would only fail as a cadet in that strict school. “ I 
won’t go, father,” said he. Mr. Grant looked him straight 
in the eye. “ Oh, yes, you will,” he answered, and Ulysses 
changed his mind back again. 

The Georgetown people agreed with Ulysses that he 
would not do very well at West Point. One man went so 
far as to say to Mr. Grant, “Why wasn't someone chosen 
who would be a credit to the district?” Ulysses, indeed, 
was not much for looks. No one except his parents im¬ 
agined that the “ stumpy, freckle-faced, big-headed country 
lad ” would be a true soldier. So quiet and backward in 
company was he that the boys of the town called him “ slow.” 
As they gathered in the spring evenings in the court-house 
square, one of their pet jokes was to tease “Useless ” about 
his becoming an army officer. 

What’s in a Name?—Ulysses, with no great expectation 
of success, packed his trunk studded with his initials in 
brass-headed tacks. “ H. U. G. spells hug, and the boys 
will plague me,” he complained, so he changed the tacks to 
read “ U. H. G.” It took Ulysses and his trunk a week to 
reach Philadelphia, three days on the steamboat to Pitts¬ 
burgh and three days on the canal to Harrisburg. From 


ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 


281 


Harrisburg he took the first train ride of his life, which 
brought him to the Quaker City, where he had relatives. At 
last Ulysses reached beautiful West Point on the Hudson, 
and to his great amazement, he found the cadets were 
anxiously waiting for him to appear. 

The interest of the cadets had nothing to do with any 
deeds of Ulysses; it was all on account of his name. The 
Congressman who made the appointment had sent in the 
boy s name wrong. Ulysses had a younger brother called 
Simpson, and the Congressman had confused the two boys. 
“Ulysses Simpson Grant” was the title the West Point 
officers received from Ohio, and on the bulletin board where 
the names of the new cadets to come were posted, appeared 
“ U. S. Grant.” “ Uncle Sam Grant! ” the West Point boys 
shouted, and as “ Sam ” Grant, Ulysses was known all 
through his stay at the Academy. 

Days at West Point.—West Point was a place for hard 
work. There was plenty of drill and study, but not much 
amusement for the cadets in their gray jackets and tight white 
trousers. “ Sam” Grant disliked most of the soldiering and 
most of the studying. He could not keep his coat trim, his 
collar clean, his brass buttons bright. He could not even keep 
step in marching. His list of demerits or “ blackmarks ” grew 
long. Writing to his cousin in Ohio, soon after he entered 
the Academy, Ulysses said, “To show how easy one can get 
these, a man by the name of Grant got eight of these marks 
for not going to church. If a man gets two hundred a year 
they dismiss him.” Grant never piled up more than one 
hundred demerits yearly, but on the conduct roll his name 
always appeared in the latter half of the list. 

When the cadets went to the riding-school, however, 
“ Sam ” came to the front. Not even the instructor could 
equal him. One of the horses, a big sorrel named York, 
objected to being ridden. His clever trick of rearing up and 


282 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


tumbling over backward discouraged the boys. “ I will 
send him away,” said the master. “ Let me try him,” 
begged Grant. 

York found that jumping about would not dislodge this 
persistent fellow, so he began to carry out his scheme of 
rearing and falling. But at the moment York rose on his 
hind legs, down between his ears came the heavy butt of 
Grant’s pistol. The astonished horse stopped short, but 
soon tried it again, only to receive a second painful blow. 
To make the story short, Grant, by a mixture of firmness 
and kindness, broke York of his bad habits and then trained 
him beautifully. One of the sights of the riding-class was 
the daily leap of York and his rider over a bar higher than 
a man’s head. For many a year no cadet could match 
that feat. 

A St. Louis Sweetheart.—Quiet “ Sam ” made few close 
friends among his classmates, but no enemies. Once he got 
into a hot dispute with a Southern cadet, Fred Dent, about 
the slavery question. The two finally stripped off their 
coats and were all ready to settle the matter with their fists, 
when the funny side of the affair struck them and it ended in 
a hearty laugh. During the senior years of “ Sam’s” stay, 
Fred Dent was his roommate and dear friend. 

Four years of cadet life brought Grant and Dent to their 
graduation day, and they became second lieutenants in the 
army of the United States. Grant, now twenty-one, had 
greatly improved during his course. He was straight and 
slender, though not tall, and his pleasant face and manners 
offset his shy behavior. Though in the army, and bound to 
serve for at least four years more, he cared nothing for it as 
a profession. When his four years were over, he hoped to 
become teacher of mathematics in some college. 

Meanwhile Ulysses was sent to the West, to Jefferson 
Barracks, near St. Louis. Strangely enough, about five miles 


ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 


283 


from the barracks stood a big - white plantation house which 
was Fred Dent’s home. Fred had been sent far away, but 
Ulysses, his friend, found a warm welcome at White Haven, 
as the Dent house was called. 

Julia Dent, the seventeen-year-old daughter, was away 
on a visit when Ulysses began his visits to White Haven. 
When she returned, Grant found the house still more attrac¬ 
tive. Before Julia had been home a month, her friends were 
teasing her about “ the little lieutenant with the big epaulets.” 
Julia, like most Southern girls, loved to ride, and the two 
young people spent many an hour together on horseback. 
Air. Dent saw that the affair was becoming serious. He 
thought of his prosperous store in St. Louis, of his thousand- 
acre plantation with its many slaves, and decided that the 
poorly-paid boyish lieutenant was no good match for 
his daughter. 

The Mexican War.—Trouble was now brewing between 
the United States and Mexico, on account of Texas. War 
seemed so near that it seemed best to move troops toward 
that region, and the regiment of Ulysses was suddenly 
ordered to Louisiana. Grant could not think of going with¬ 
out a last talk with Julia. He saddled his horse and galloped 
off toward White Haven. On his way a flooded stream 
barred the path. The lack of a bridge did not stop the deter¬ 
mined lieutenant. Straight into the water he urged his 
horse and with some difficulty reached the other bank. It 
was a soaking wet officer who was greeted by Julia Dent; 
but before they parted that day the couple were engaged, and 
it was with a hopeful heart that Grant set off southward. 

The Mexican War began. Lieutenant Grant got his full 
share of the fighting. He saw his comrades fall dead and 
wounded by his side, but he kept his nerve, showed no excite¬ 
ment, and did good service. At last the Americans came 
within sight of the capital of the country, the City of 


284 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Mexico. As they paused to consider how best to attack it, 
a tall Virginia captain, Robert E. Lee, rode up to the wagons 
of which Lieutenant Grant had charge, and passed the time 
of day with him. The two met many years later under very 
different circumstances. 

Married and Parted. Leaving the Army.—After a while 
the United States Army conquered its enemy, and Grant’s 
regiment came home. Julia, had not seen her soldier for over 
four years. As soon as Ulysses could get a furlough, the 
young couple were married. Now Mr. Dent felt proud of 
his son-in-law, who at twenty-six had rendered distinguished 
service on the battlefield, had been promoted to first lieu¬ 
tenant, and had been promised a captaincy as soon as possible. 

Several more years passed away while Grant and his 
wife were stationed at various posts, but his pay was too 
small for his needs. The Pacific coast was fast being 
settled, and the regiment was called to Oregon. Grant did 
not wish to expose his wife and baby boy to the dangers of 
the fever-haunted road over the Isthmus of Panama, but he 
thought that in the Golden West he would be sure to discover 
a way to make money. Mrs. Grant went back to her father’s 
house and Captain Grant unwillingly left her once more. 

The days in the fort on the Columbia River were lonely 
and dreary. Grant invested some of his pay in business 
ventures, but business was never his strong point, and he 
lost instead of winning. Though Grant had risen to the 
rank of captain, each month he grew more sad and silent, 
and at last his fellow-officers learned that he was foolishly 
drinking to drown his sorrow. The amount which Grant 
took was not enough to show on many men, but his head 
could not bear liquor. A few glasses would flush his face 
and make him stupid. The colonel found out Grant’s 
unfortunate habit. He warned Grant, but without effect, 
and soon his colonel asked Captain Grant to write out his 


ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 


285 


resignation. The gallant boy of the Mexican War left 
the army in disgrace. 

II. THE FIGHTING GENERAL 

Hard Times at “ Hard Scrabble.” —On his way to rejoin 
his wife, Grant stopped to see his father’s family. The 
mother received him with open arms, but the father and 
brothers plainly showed that they considered Ulysses a 
failure. Soon Grant, cut to the heart, left them and hastened 
to White Haven. There he found his wife with their two 
children, the younger of whom he had never seen. It was 
joy to be with them once more. As, however, a living had 
to be made, Grant lost no time in making a start. 

Mr. Dent had given to Julia, as a wedding present, a 
small portion of his big plantation. On this small farm 
Grant cut down some trees and built from the logs a four- 
roomed cabin, which he fitly called “ Hard Scrabble.” There 
Julia Grant began housekeeping again. Mr. Dent loaned 
Grant a thousand dollars, so he was able to buy a stock of 
farm animals and tools. Now, as in the old boyish days, 
Captain Grant at thirty-two followed the plow and drove 
his wagon. 

There were hard times at “ Hard, Scrabble.” The crops 
did not do well. Grant struggled to get along. In good 
weather or in bad he worked just the same. When nothing 
else could be done, he hauled cord-wood from the farm and 
sold it in St. Louis, Work and worry began to age the 
silent man, who had now three children to support. He lost 
his soldierly straightness and grew stoop-shouldered. 

At last, after three years of disappointment, thinking he 
could make more money on a larger farm, Grant left “ Hard 
Scrabble” and rented Mr. Dent’s plantation. With three 
negroes to help him, he managed to plant a large amount of 
various crops, and hoped for a good season. Then came an 



286 OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 

unexpected misfortune; Grant fell sick with chills and fever. 
For days at a time he could do no work. The laborers took 
advantage of his illness and neglected their duties. Again 
the crops proved poor, and that fall, giving up the fight, 


From the collection of F. H. Meserve 

GRANT AT COLD HARBOR 

Grant sold his farming outfit and moved into a tiny house 
in St. Louis. 

The War Begins.— Mr. Dent found a place in a real- 
estate office for his son-in-law, but again Grant showed that 
he was no business man. He could not even make a success 










ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 


287 


at collecting rent, for the tenants soon learned that Grant’s 
soft heart believed any “ hard luck story.” From one thing 
to another went Grant. An evil fate seemed to pursue him. 
Mr. Dent grew impatient and thought his son-in-law almost 
worthless. After a year of this hand-to-mouth life, old Mr. 
Grant offered a little help. He had established a branch of 
his tannery in Galena, a town in the northwest part of 
Illinois. The two brothers of Ulysses were managing the 
tannery, and Ulysses could come and be a clerk, if he cared 
to do so. “ It’s that or nothing,” thought Grant, and with¬ 
out delay the family took the Mississippi steamer to Galena. 

The stoop-shouldered, brown-bearded man who for a 
year bent over the account books in the store took little part 
in the affairs of the town. What a change in his life from 
the time he was a dashing horseman in the army! But a 
return change was coming. Lincoln was elected President, 
and the next spring came the news that the Southerners had 
fired on Fort Sumter. Grant felt that now there was real 
work in his special line. “ We have a Government, and 
laws, and a flag, and they must all be sustained,” said he. 

Galena was a patriotic town. Its men quickly made up 
a company of volunteers, and they asked “ Cap ” Grant to 
show them how the “ regulars ” drilled. When Grant 
stepped before the ranks the soldier in him shone out. He 
straightened up; his orders rang clear and sharp. “He’s a 
regular, sure enough,” said the company. “ He must be our 
captain.” But Grant declined. He knew that there was 
bigger work in the war for a man of his experience. Soon 
the Galena men went off to Springfield, and Grant took the 
same train, because he had volunteered his services to the 
governor of his state. 

The Quiet Colonel. —In Springfield Grant helped in 
various odd jobs connected with the army, but his desire 
now was to be an officer once more. He wrote to Washington 


288 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


asking for the command of a regiment, but his letter went 
into a pigeon-hole, where it stayed for several years. Grant’s 
chance came in a different way. A new regiment stationed 
at Camp Yates, near Springfield, had become disorderly. 
Its colonel could do nothing with the men. Governor Yates 
thought of the quiet soldier who had helped to get other 
affairs into shape, and offered Grant the regiment. “ I 
accept,” was the reply. 

Two Congressmen went out with Grant to Camp 
Yates. The regiment was drawn up in line, and the 
Congressmen made speeches to the soldiers. Then the men 
wanted to hear their new colonel, and perhaps were ready to 
“ guy ” him a little. When Grant stood up, the men laughed 
outright. He had no uniform, his coat was out at the elbows, 
and his hat was the worse for wear. “ What will this new 
fellow say?” sneered the soldiers. Grant did not detain 
them long. His speech consisted of four words, “ Go to 
your quarters.” 

In ten days the regiment had so changed that its former 
colonel would not have known it. Grant himself knocked 
down and gagged its worst bully. He poured out on the 
ground the whiskey that the men carried in their canteens. 
If the men were not dressed for drill at the time Grant set, 
the drill went on, with some men coatless or capless, some 
even barefoot. The colonels of the other new regiments in 
the camp came to watch how Grant managed his men, and 
they found that he handled these toughs without an angry 
word or an oath. 

The Fighting General.—The regiment was sent to fight 
along the Mississippi, and Grant proved himself the best 
colonel in that part of the country. On one occasion he 
was sent to attack a well-known Confederate colonel whose 
force of men slightly exceeded Grant’s. As Grant led his 
regiment toward the Confederate camp he felt many fears 


ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 


289 


about the result of the coming battle; but when the Union 
soldiers drew near the enemy’s post, Grant found that his 
foe had retreated. “ He was as much afraid of me as I was 
of him,” thought Grant, and never afterward did he fear to 
strike the opposing force. 

Before the first summer of the war was half ended, 
President Lincoln appointed Colonel Grant a general. Ex¬ 
perienced men who could win success were rare in the 
Union army, and they rose fast. General Grant led a few 
thousand men to attack the enemy at Belmont, Missouri. It 
was not much of a victory for either side, but the Union 
troops had to withdraw on their steamboats. Grant was the 
last to leave the field. The gang-plank of the rearmost boat 
had been pulled in from the bank when Grant and his horse 
slid down the slope. Under a heavy fire of musketry, his 
men ran the plank out again, and the commander rode 
aboard unhurt. 

Soon the North was delighted to hear that Grant had 
captured two of the strongest Confederate forts in Ten¬ 
nessee, with twelve thousand men. When the Southern 
commander asked for Grant’s terms of surrender. Grant 
replied, “No terms except an unconditional and immediate 
surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately 
upon your works.” The Confederate general at once gave 
up the idea of resistance. Now Grant’s name became a 
household word. The Union men said that his initials stood 
for “Unconditional Surrender Grant.” President Lincoln 
raised his successful fighter from brigadier-general to the 
next rank, major-general. 

Success upon Success.—The two great strongholds of 
the Confederates were Richmond and Vicksburg. On a 
high bank of the Mississippi Vicksburg stood. Around it 
lay tangled swamps. Its guns swept the waters of the river 
and kept the Northern vessels' from coming past. “ I will 

19 


290 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


capture Vicksburg,” declared Grant. With a large army 
and a fleet of gunboats he undertook the task. For many 
days the Union soldiers tried to force their way through the 
narrow paths of the swamps. The Confederates drove them 
back. For many days the gunboats tried to push through 
the winding channels and reach a point from which they 
could safely bombard the city high above them. The boats 
found no passage. 

Five months were spent in this fruitless labor. Many 
people said, “ Grant is wasting the lives of our brave boys. 
He is either foolish, stupid, or drunken.” But Lincoln 
answered, “ I can’t spare this man. He fights. If I knew 
what kind of whiskey he drinks, I would send a barrel to 
each of my other generals.” Finally Grant succeeded in 
drawing his net tight about the town. Vicksburg was gar¬ 
risoned by thirty thousand Confederates. They defended 
themselves bravely, but day and night Grant rained shells 
upon them. The wretched townspeople dug caves in which 
to shelter. Food became scarce. Flour sold at ten Con¬ 
federate dollars a pound and bacon at five dollars, and mule- 
meat was thought a fine dish. Finally, on that Fourth of 
July when Lee retreated from Gettysburg, the Confederate 
leader surrendered Vicksburg. Grant captured all of the 
garrison and one hundred and seventy-five cannon. It was 
the greatest haul of the war. “ Vicksburg and Gettysburg! ” 
cried the joyful people of the North. “Hurrah for Grant 
and Meade!” From the wonderful Fourth onward the 
Union men were confident of winning. 

Grant was soon made commander of all the armies west 
of the Appalachians. With his three famous helpers, 
Sherman, Thomas and Hooker, he completely conquered the 
Confederates in Tennessee. Many people began to say that 
Grant would make a good President, but Grant himself 
wrote to his father: “ I am not a candidate for any office. 


ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 


291 


All I want is to be let alone to fight this war out.” “ That 
is the right kind of talk,” thought President Lincoln, and he 
made Grant lieutenant-general, with command over all the 
armies of the United States. 

On to Richmond.—To receive this great honor Grant 
went to Washington. When he called at the White House 



to pay his respects to President Lincoln, the visitors there 
crowded around him so closely that Secretary Seward in¬ 
duced Grant to stand upon a sofa to be seen by all. The 
crowd saw “a short, round-shouldered man, in a very 
tarnished uniform. He had rough light-brown whiskers, a 
blue eye, and rather a scrubby look.” There certainly was 
no style about the great soldier. The next day, in Lincoln’s 














£92 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


office, this plain commander received his great commission 
as head of all the armies. “ As the country herein trusts 
you/’ said Lincoln, “ so, under God, it will sustain you.” 

Now, at the beginning of 1864, Grant laid out his plans 
to end the war. There was only one way to do it quickly; 
that was to hit, hit hard, and keep on hitting. Meade was 
to hit from the north and Sherman from the south and west. 
It would be a terrible struggle, and many thousand soldiers 
would fall, but there was nothing else to be done. The 
North had still plenty of men to fill the ranks, while the South 
had “ robbed the cradle and grave ” to get troops. All that 
Grant needed to do was to stick to his purpose; and he was 
just the man to do that. 

The Secretary of War objected to some parts of Grant’s 
plan, but when he complained to Lincoln, “ Old Abe ” said, 
“Now, Mr. Secretary, you know we have been trying to 
manage this army for nearly three years, and you know we 
haven’t done much with it. We sent over the mountains and 
brought Mr. Grant to manage it for us, and now I guess we 
had better let Mr. Grant have his own. way.” Grant had his 
way, for Lincoln trusted him. One beautiful day in May, 
Grant, sitting on a log by the roadside in Virginia, wrote out 
a telegram to Sherman, telling him to start forward. The 
death-struggle of the Civil War was about to begin. Grant 
was headed straight for Richmond. 

III. CONQUEROR AND PRESIDENT 

Fighting it Out.—Grant’s strong drive toward Rich¬ 
mond was stubbornly resisted by Lee, while Johnston in the 
south opposed the advance of Sherman. It was in the 
struggle between plain Grant and stately Lee that the North 
showed greatest interest. The two skilful commanders were 
well matched. Grant led the stronger force, but Lee’s 
entrenchments offset this advantage. 


ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 


293 


Lee had been able to outwit and to drive back every other 
Union general who had marched into Virginia; but Grant he 
could not stop. There was fierce hand-to-hand fighting, 
there was desperate assault and heroic repulse. Both armies 
covered themselves with glory. In spite of the wonderful 
bravery of the Confederates, however, the Federate pressed 



THE SURRENDER OF GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE 


ever southward. Fifty thousand men were lost from Grant’s 
ranks in a month of fearful slaughter. Many Northerners 
looked at the list of casualties and cried “ Butcher Grant! ” 
Yet the general sternly said, “We will fight it out on this 
line if it takes all summer.” 

It did take all summer, and all winter, too. Though 
Grant’s army now lay close to Richmond, Lee was safe 
behind his breastworks. Other Union generals had come 
within sight of Richmond before, and had gone back again in 
defeat. Grant, like a bulldog, was bound to hold fast. He 














294 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


took up his quarters in a log-cabin at City Point, on the James 
River below Richmond. From that spot he watched affairs 
with a sharp eye, all through the cold months. To the cabin, 
for a stay of many weeks, came his wife and their little son 
Jesse. His most illustrious visitor was President Lincoln. 

Richmond Falls.—March, 1865, came. Grant’s men 
began to move once more. Sherman with a hundred thousand 
troops was sweeping up toward Richmond, but Grant would 
not wait for him. He sent General “ Phil ” Sheridan to cut 
the railroad which brought Lee’s supplies from the South, 
and it was successfully done. Another assault broke Lee’s 
line of entrenchments. “ We’ll end it right here,” growled 
Grant. Lee saw that Richmond could not be held any longer. 
Only on the west was there a chance for escape. He decided 
to retreat in that direction while he could. 

It was a bright April Sunday. President Lincoln was at 
City Point, reading messages of good cheer that came in 
from Grant. Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederates, 
sat in his pew in St. Paul’s Church, Richmond, trying to find 
comfort in the services. A messenger came up the aisle and 
handed to Davis a note. The word was from General Lee. 
Richmond must fall into Grant’s hands. The President’s 
face turned gray; he rose and left the church. Everyone 
knew what that meant. 

That night Davis and his Cabinet fled from the city as 
Lee’s men marched out toward the west. “ I will not give up 
the fight,” thought Lee. “ If I can join with the remains of 
Johnston’s army, we’ll give the Yankees a hard struggle yet.” 
But the wearers of the blue followed hard on his heels. There 
was fight after fight. Hungry and tired though they were, 
the Confederates, ever retiring toward the Blue Ridge, 
battled for eighty miles like brave men. At the end of the 
week, Sheridan’s cavalry galloped squarely between them and 


ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 


the mountains, while Meade pressed upon their rear. Lee 
was fairly caught at Appomattox Station. 

War Ends.—The combat was ended. The two great 
generals came face to face to arrange the surrender. Their 
thoughts were partly of old days when they had met in 
Mexico, and they talked as old friends. The beaten general 
looked like a conqueror. In spite of the hard march, he had 
kept a fine new gray uniform, which he put on for the 
occasion. Tall and straight, with his hand on the hilt of his 
gilded sword, Lee was the worthy defender of a mighty cause. 
Yet the plain little round-shouldered man, without a sword, 
clothes and boots splashed with mud, had crushed the cause 
for which this leader stood. 

By the light of the camp-fires, that evening at Appo¬ 
mattox, the regimental bands of the Union army played 
“ Home, Sweet Home.” There were still Confederate 
armies in the field, but all knew that Lee’s overthrow marked 
the real end of the war. When Grant came to Washington, 
a few days later, the people hailed him with wild joy. In the 
evening there was a grand display of fireworks. The Presi¬ 
dent and Mrs. Lincoln took General Grant and his wife in 
their carriage to watch these signs of victory, and as they rode 
along, from the crowd rose deafening cheers, three times 
three for Lincoln and Grant. 

“ Attend the theatre with us this evening,” urged the 
Lincolns the next day, but Grant and his wife declined. Two 
of their children were at school at Burlington, New Jersey, 
and the parents were anxious to see them. General and Mrs. 
Grant took the evening train north. At Philadelphia the tele¬ 
graph flashed them the news that Lincoln had been shot. If 
Grant had sat beside the President, would not two great men 
have fallen instead of one? 

Head of the Nation.—Now for a time Grant almost took 
Lincoln’s place in the hearts of the American people. The 


296 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


nation wished to show him honor. At every great celebration 
in every great city of the United States, Grant’s presence was 
desired. His friends in Philadelphia had already given him 
a house; now his old friends in Galena presented another to 
him. The West Pointers were overjoyed when Grant came 
back there to see his son Fred, who had become a cadet like 
his father. President Andrew Johnson, who took Lincoln’s 
place, sent Grant through the South, to see how the 
Southerners felt about the Union, and even there Grant was 
received with respect and gratitude for his gentleness to a 
beaten enemy. 

President Johnson and the Congress fell into a bitter 
quarrel about the proper way to treat the states that had once 
been Confederate. The President did many unwise things, 
and it was soon seen that he could not hold the office again. 
“ Grant for President! ” rose the call. For more than a 
year Grant had nothing to say when he was asked to come 
forward as a candidate. The story goes that it was his wife 
who influenced him to accept at last. She was proud to think 
that her husband, once thought a failure, might fill the highest 
office in the land. He received a large vote, and President 
Grant sat in the White House. 

For eight years Grant held the post of the nation’s head. 
They were not truly happy years, nor were they easy. The 
war had left both North and South in a bad condition. The 
nation had so many great things to watch that it could not 
attend to the smaller ones. Contractors and bad politicians 
grew rich at the nation’s expense. Public office was not 
considered as a chance for good service, but as a chance to 
grab money. The South was a nest of trouble. The whites 
tried to keep the blacks out of their rights; when the blacks 
got into power they tried to crush the whites. Violence and 
bloodshed were common. 

People blamed the President for many things. They said 


ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 


297 


he appointed too many of his family and his wife’s relatives 
to good offices.. They said that any one of Grant’s old friends 
could “ shut the President’s eye up ” and be safe in making 
money by crooked means. They said that Grant had no skill 
in picking out good men to run the government. Much of 
their blame was true. It was a careless time. Grant was no 
business man. He had not run after the Presidency, because 
he did not feel that he was experienced in politics. He was 
just a plain soldier; he did the best he could; but in truth, 
whether it was his fault or not, this great general did not 
make a great President. One thing, however, was seen by 
all—Grant himself was an honest man. 

Ward, the Rascal.—Grant was more glad to leave the 
White House than he had been to enter its doors. He now 
made his home in New York, and went into business with 
a broker to whom his son, Ulysses, Jr., introduced him. The 
new firm of Grant and Ward seemed wonderfully successful. 
With the famous name of Grant to give him credit, Ward 
seemed to be making millions for the General and himself. 
Grant, who understood so little about business, trusted Ward 
absolutely, but Ward’s dealings had been frauds. Grant 
arrived at the Wall Street office one day to find Ward gone 
and everything in confusion. When the truth burst upon 
him Grant wasted no words in complaint. “ We are all 
ruined here,” he coolly announced to the friends who 
hastened in. Nearly every penny which he owned had 
been swept away. 

But another blow fell. Immediately after his business 
failure his throat began to give Grant pain. When he con¬ 
sulted the doctors, they pronounced it cancer, probably 
brought on by his excessive smoking. Month by month the 
pain grew keener. No cure was possible. In the midst of 
the General’s suffering, a publishing firm, of which Mark 
Twain was a member, offered him good terms if he would 


298 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


write the story of his life. Such a task was not to Grant’s 
taste; but here he saw a chance of leaving 1 to his loved ones, 
whose money through him had been lost, a small fortune. 
He signed the contract and began his “ Memoirs.” 



GENERAL GRANT'S TOMB, RIVERSIDE DRIVE, NEW YORK 

Several times it seemed as though the work would never 
be completed; several times the doctors thought that Grant 
was dying; but Grant intended to fight to the last. “ I want 
to live and finish my book,” said he. In the struggle with 
Death, though Grant was sure to lose at last, his purpose was 
to win this one battle. 

Suffering pain almost unbearable, without complaint he 
labored on. When his eaten-away throat could stand it, he 










ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 299 

dictated. When speech proved impossible, he wrote on a 
tablet. At last the thrilling story of his career down to the 
end of the war was done. There he wished to let it rest. 
The only record he cared to leave was that of his soldier life. 

Only a few weeks of life remained. Night after night 
he spent sleepless, tortured with pain. All the tributes which 
the people of America showered upon him could not cure 
him. On a summer morning of 1885, his long suffering 
ended. He had fought his last fight. 

Amidst the salutes of cannon from warships moored in 
the Hudson, his body was laid to rest in New York. Today, 
high above the North River, a beautiful tomb, built like a 
temple, covers the open vault where lies his granite coffin 
beside that of his wife. As reverent visitors look down into 
the vault, they give fresh honor to the plain soldier whose 
highest purpose was to bring America peace within her 
borders and make her a reunited nation. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. What was Grant’s opinion as to the justice of the quarrel between the 

United States and Mexico? Give reasons for your opinion. 

2. Find out two special services performed by Grant in the Mexican War 

for which you think he deserved honorable mention. 

3. What other celebrated Americans served in the Mexican War? 

4. Why has the road over the Isthmus of Panama ceased to be fever- 

haunted ? 

5. Write a short dialogue which might have taken place between Lincoln 

and Grant at City Point. 

6. What terrible scenes occurred in Richmond when the Confederate 

defenders left the city? 


ROBERT EDWARD LEE 


CHIEF OF THE GRAY 

“Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more; you should 
never wish to do less .”—Letter to his son. 

I. UNSELFISH SERVICE 

Robert Lee and the Greatest Virginian.—“ First in war, 
first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen; ” these 
famous words we owe to “ Light Horse Harry ” Lee, a 

gallant cavalry officer dur¬ 
ing the Revolutionary 
War and a personal friend 
of the “ Father of his 
Country.” “ Light Horse 
Harry’s ” Virginia home 
stood near the Potomac, 
only a few miles from 
Washington’s birthplace. 
There, in the year when 
the Clermont made her 
first voyage up the 
Hudson, was born a son, 
Robert. 

Robert’s early life was 
closely connected with the memory of noble Washington. 
He heard from his father many stories of the great 
leader. When Robert was still very young, the Lee 
family moved to the old town of Alexandria, on the 
Potomac, below the nation’s capital. There the Lees 
attended the very church in which Washington had wor¬ 
shipped. Robert was often taken to Mount Vernon. His 

300 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 








ROBERT EDWARD LEE 


301 


father and mother also took him frequently tor visit Arlington, 
a beautiful mansion standing on a wooded hill across the 
river from the city of Washington. There lived George 
Washington Parke Custis, the son of Martha. Washington. 
When little Mary Custis and Robert were tired of play they 
would roam through the house, looking at theimany relics of 
Washington which it contained. The boy learned to love and 
admire the character of Washington: as he grew up, he, like 
Grant, took that great man as his pattern. 

The Cadet and Mary.—No “mollycoddle ” would decide 
to be a soldier, and that was the life Robert chose. To pre¬ 
pare himself for entrance to West Point, Robert attended for 
a year an academy in Alexandria. The next question was, 
how to get into West Point. Mrs. Lewis, the sister of Mr. 
Custis of Arlington, came to Robert’s aid. With him she 
drove to Washington, called at the White House, and intro¬ 
duced her young friend to President Jackson. That old 
fighter looked Robert over, was pleased with his manly 
appearance and good manners, and readily gave Robert the 
desired appointment. 

At West Point Robert became known as one of the best 
cadets. He neither drank, smoked, nor swore; and he 
studied with a will, Ulysses Grant, fifteen years later, 
received many demerits, though he was not at all a bad fellow; 
but Robert Lee during the entire four years of his course got 
never a one. This was not due to any lack of spirits, for on 
his furloughs home he was as great a tease and fun-maker as 
could be found. All the girls at the parties admired Robert. 
In gray uniform with white buttons, this trim cadet with the 
brown eyes and curling brown hair was indeed a fine-looking 
partner, and as interesting as he was handsome. But Robert’s 
attention centered on one girl, Mary Custis, and she delighted 
in his company. Mary’s father objected. Lee was poor, 


302 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


while Mary would inherit a fortune. At last, seeing that 
Mary’s heart was fixed, Mr. Custis yielded. 

Robert graduated second in his class. The “ honor men ” 
were then selected as engineer officers, so an engineer Robert 
became. He helped in fixing the boundaries of state lines, in 
making dikes along the Mississippi, and in building Fort 
Hamilton. After two years of such work, having made a 
good reputation for himself in his profession, he returned to 
Arlington and there was a fine wedding. 

A Distinguished Officer.—At last the Mexican War called 
Lee away from his own country. Under the command of 
General Winfield Scott, Lee, now a captain, laid out the route 
of the army, improved the roads, scouted to find the location 
of the enemy’s troops, and made fortifications in time of 
battle. Often his life was in danger; in one battle, indeed, he 
was wounded; but his bold active spirit made light of that. 
General Scott saw the value of Lee’s services. At the end of 
the war Lee returned from Mexico a colonel. 

After a time Colonel Lee was made superintendent of 
West Point. At forty-five he came back to the place he had 
left when he was twenty-two. Then he had been an inex¬ 
perienced young lieutenant with his reputation still to gain; 
now he was a distinguished officer, admired by all. The 
cadets looked up to him with respect and affection. His own 
son, Custis, was a cadet under his charge. 

The three years spent inside the Academy walls were quite 
long enough to satisfy Lee, who had had so many different 
experiences in the open field. Next he became colonel of a 
cavalry regiment in Texas. That was a rough, wild life. 
Colonel Lee chased fierce Comanche Indians and roving 
Mexican bandits. “ I hope you enjoyed your usual celebra¬ 
tion of the Fourth of July,” he wrote one year to his wife. 
“ Mine was spent, after a march of thirty miles, under the 
shade of my blanket which I had spread on four sticks. The 


ROBERT EDWARD LEE 


303 


sun was fiery hot, the air like the blast of a furnace, and all 
the water brackish. Still, my loyalty to my country and my 
faith in the future continue as ardent as ever.” 

While Lee was riding over the Texas plains, the storm of 
war was threatening our country. Lee sorrowfully saw the 
clouds gathering. “ How the spirit of Washington would be 
grieved if he could see the wreck of his mighty labors! ” he 
wrote to his son. Lee admitted that slavery was evil. He 
had already set free the few slaves whom he had inherited 
long since from his mother, and the negroes that Mary Lee 
had received at the death of her father were soon to be freed 
also. Yet Lee saw that to destroy slavery at one blow would 
overturn the whole life of the South. How could the North 
and the South peaceably settle their differences ? Lee did not 
know; there was in truth no answer. 

When the final break came, Lee had been called by General 
Scott to the city of Washington. “ Leave no stone unturned 
to secure Robert Lee to our side,” the old General advised 
Lincoln, “ He would be worth fifty thousand men to us.” 
Lee loved the Union. He believed that it was intended to 
last forever. But, like most of the great men in Washington’s 
day, he considered that his duty to his own state should stand 
above his duty to the Union. 

General Scott, who was now commander-in-chief of the 
army, was too old to conduct the war. He knew he would be 
compelled to resign, and he recommended Lee to fill the place. 
President Lincoln was ready to give the post to Lee, but Lee’s 
answer came: “ I am opposed to secession, I dislike the idea of 
war, but I cannot take part against the Southern states.” 
General Scott begged Lee to change his mind, but Lee’s con¬ 
science pointed out only one road. “ I am compelled to do as 
I do,” he replied: “ I cannot consult my own feelings.” 

Had Lee been a selfish man, he would have joined the side 
of the North. He would have been commander of all the 


304 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


CHARLESTON 

MERCURY 

EXTRA: 


1 - ■—^ -• •«- —i 

Panned uinntlinounlij at 1.15 o'clock) i*. .V., December 

20//i, 1800. 

AW OllDIWAWCE 

To dinnolee the I'nton behrecn the State of South Carolina and 
other Staten wilted with her under the compact entitled “ The 
Count it ul ion of the lulled States oj •America.” 

n>, Hit People of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare.and ordain, and 
•t it hereby declared and ordained. 

That the Ordinance adopted by its In Convention, on the twenty-third day of Hay, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand ecveu hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the 
United States of America was ratified, and also, all Acts and parts of Aets of tire General 
Assembly of this Stale, ratifying ameudments of the said'Constitution, aro hereby repealed; 
and that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name at 
•The United States of America,” is hereby dissolved.- 


THE 



IISSILIII1 


NEWSPAPER POSTER ANNOUNCING THE DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION 









ROBERT EDWARD LEE 


305 


powerful Union armies. What an honor that would seem! 
But Lee could not act selfishly; that was not in his nature. He 
returned to Arlington and asked to be left alone for a time. 
His wife heard him in an upper room pacing back and forth 
in anxious thought. At last he came down. “ Well, Mary, 
the question is settled,’’ he said. “ Here is my resignation 
from the army.” The North had lost a great leader. 

That resignation meant trouble, poverty, danger. Though 
Lee did not know it at the time, Virginia had already decided 
to leave the Union. As soon as the Governor of Virginia 
learned that Lee had resigned, he asked the legislature to make 
Lee a general and the commander of all the Virginia troops. 
This was passed without a vote against it and Lee was called 
to Richmond where he accepted the position. 

Soon the Confederate Government took the appointment 
of generals out of the hands of the states, and Lee was one of 
five generals who were to command armies. He was sent to 
the mountain region of Virginia (now West Virginia) to 
drive out the Union troops. Lee’s military honors had been 
gained in the mountains of Mexico; yet in the West Virginia 
mountains he secured no credit. The Federal soldiers were 
not driven out, and in the end, West Virginia separated from 
Virginia and became a Union state. 

The cry against Lee was loud. Some of the Southern 
newspapers wanted President Jefferson Davis to remove Lee 
from any command. They said the “E ” in his name stood 
for “ Evacuating,” 1 Lee could have made many excuses; he 
could have blamed the rain, the lack of horses, the weariness 
of his men, the failure of some officers to obey; but like 
Washington he preferred to say nothing in his own defense. 
“ It is better,” he said, “ to go steadily on in the discharge of 
my duty to the best of my ability.” Like the great General 
Washington, Lee had apparently failed in his first campaign. 

1 “ Evacuating ” means giving up. 

20 



306 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 
II. DEFEAT WITH HONOR 


Lee Gets His Chance.—In spite of the blame-which was 
heaped on Lee’s head, Jefferson Davis believed in him. Lee 
was given charge of building forts along the southern coast; 
afterward President Davis kept Lee at his side in Richmond; 
but for nearly a year General Lee was a general without an 
army. No doubt he grieved over being thus set aside; at any 
rate, his hair turned silver during that time, though his move¬ 
ments were as quick and his dark eyes as keen as ever. 

Through the warm May days of 1862 the Union forces 
pressed slowly but steadily toward Richmond. At last the 
great blue army lay only six miles from that city. The Federal 
soldiers could hear the Richmond church-clocks striking the 
hour. “ We shall soon be there,” they said. 

General Johnston, the Confederate commander, was badly 
wounded, and President Davis put Lee into Johnston’s place. 
It was a critical time. The Southern officers were discouraged 
and disheartened. They had no confidence in Lee. When 
their new general called them together in council the officers 
said with one voice, “ The Yankees are too strong for us. 
Let us retreat a little nearer Richmond. We cannot hold 
them back here.” 

Lee made no answer until he had looked over the battle¬ 
line. Then, in face of the objections of his officers, he 
decided, “ The enemy is near enough to Richmond. We shall 
not move back a step. Instead of waiting for the Federals to 
attack us, we’ll attack them.” 

The Gentle Soldier.—Boldly Lee attacked the outnumber¬ 
ing enemy. They gave way under the fierce assaults, and for 
seven days retreated from one position to another. General 
McClellan did not finally halt until he was fifty miles away 
from Richmond, with the Union gunboats on the James 
River at his back. “ If it were anybody but you who had 


ROBERT EDWARD LEE 


307 


planned such a daring attack,” wrote Jefferson Davis to Lee, 
as the fight began, “ I would countermand it.” The Union 
soldiers had fought bravely, but Lee had outgeneraled their 
commander. Amazed, McClellan believed that Lee had more 
than twice as many men as he actually possessed. President 
Lincoln changed generals. It was almost three years before 
any Union army once more caught sight of the spires 
of Richmond. 

At the end of that summer, the name of Lee was dreaded 
by the Union commanders. He had defeated them again, and 
the Southern soldiers for a few days looked across the 
Potomac at the dome of the Capitol in Washington. From 
his office in the White House President Lincoln saw the 
“ rebel ” flags floating in Virginia. The spirit of the 
Confederates had changed. They were full of confidence 
in their leader. When he appeared, mounted on his “ Con¬ 
federate gray” horse, “Traveler,” every one hurrahed for 
“ Marse 2 Robert.” 

In truth, Lee was worthy to be a king. His men believed 
in him because of his victories, but they loved him because of 
his noble character. In Lee they saw a representative of the 
best men of the South. “ His graceful, knightly bearing, his 
eagle eye, and the very expression of his face, all betokened 
mingled firmness and gentleness,” said one who knew him 
well. Lee was often called “ the gentle soldier.” He could be 
determined enough when necessary, yet his heart, like that of 
Lincoln, was tender. 

“ What a cruel thing is war,” wrote Lee one Christmas 
day in his tent, “ to separate and destroy families and friends, 
to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors. 
My heart bleeds at the death of every one of our gallant men.” 
He never ordered even a spy to be put to death. When his 
generals m ade mistakes he took the blame upon himself. 

3 “ Marse ” is the negro way of saying “ Master.” 



308 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Instead of seizing upon comfortable houses for his head¬ 
quarters, Lee usually slept in a tent and left the homes undis¬ 
turbed. During one of his fiercest battles he observed the 
enemy from a little hill. The enemy observed him also and 
fired sharply upon him and his officers. While the bullets 
were humming about, Lee saw at his feet a young bird which 
had fallen out of its nest. Lee stooped, picked up the bird 
and placed it safely on a branch of the nearest tree. His 
horse “ Traveler ” answered to his master’s mere whistle. 
Great heart and great mind combined in the great soldier to 
make a true man. 

High-water Mark.—To keep the enemy away from 
Richmond, Lee invaded Pennsylvania. Those rich fields, big 
barns, comfortable houses and well-stocked stores of the 
Keystone State offered him a chance to feast his army 
and refit the needy men. If he could win a battle in Penn¬ 
sylvania he might be able to make a dash and seize Wash¬ 
ington. Then Maryland and West Virginia might join the 
Confederate states. 

The Southerners joyfully followed Lee across the 
Potomac. Lee on his part was proud of his soldiers, “ There 
never were such men in an army before,” he declared. “ They 
will go anywhere and do anything if properly led.” But as 
his sixty thousand fighters marched straight into' Penn¬ 
sylvania, Lee warned them to remember “ that we make war 
only on armed men.” Women and children were not to be 
disturbed. Houses and barns were not to be destroyed. The 
troops were to be as careful in the country of the enemy as in 
their own. Could any commander show a more kindly spirit? 

General George Meade met the Confederates before Lee 
could seize Harrisburg. Some of the gray cavalry actually 
reached the banks of the Susquehanna, but were driven back 
as Meade advanced. The great battle between Lee and Meade 
took place at the quiet little town of Gettysburg. For two 


ROBERT EDWARD LEE 


309 


days it continued with some advantage to the Confederates. 
On the third day, the Southerners posted on one ridge looked 
across the valley at the Federals who held the opposite hill. 
“If we don’t whip Meade, he will whip us,” said Lee. The 
Confederate guns began a terrible cannonade, but their 
ammunition ran low. Then fifteen thousand men marched 
across the valley to storm the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge. 
It was the turn of the Northern cannon and muskets to blaze. 
The Confederates were blown away like smoke before the 
wind. “ Pickett’s charge ” had failed, and Lee had lost 
the battle. 

Ebb-tide.—The tide of Confederate strength went down 
from that day. The defeat at Gettysburg and the capture of 
Vicksburg struck the South two crushing blows. Though 
Lee’s army was still strong and in good order, his dream of 
invading the North had vanished. Grant, flushed with 
victory, came from the West to grasp Richmond as he had 
taken Vicksburg. 

Now Lee was on the defensive. The South had put 
almost every able-bodied man into her armies. When those 
were gone, there would be no more. Grant knew this, and 
forced the fighting. He could wear out Lee’s army. Yet 
time after time Lee fought him to a standstill. The sight of 
their beloved leader always roused the gaunt, hungry Con¬ 
federates to the highest pitch of bravery. Several times, 
when a charge was to be made, Lee tried to put himself at 
their head, but the men fiercely cried out, “ Go back, General! 
Get out of danger! ” They even seized “ Traveller’s ” bridle 
and dragged him away. 

Finally Grant gave up “ hammering.” The slaughter of 
his men had been frightful. He had reached so near 
Richmond that he built great fortifications half around the 
city. Now he “nibbled.” First' at one part of the line, then 
at another, he tried an attack. Wherever he found a weak 


310 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


spot, he crept a little closer to Richmond. Lee’s men had to 
be constantly on the watch. In their trenches through those 
winter months of 1864 and 1865, they received only about 
one-fifth of the rations which the Union soldiers drew. 
Some of the men on the coldest days had to stay in the battle¬ 
line for three days, with scant diet and thin clothing, while 



THE LAST CONFEDERATE BATTLE LINE 


the sleet beat upon them. They perished fast from exposure 
and hunger. 

Appomattox.—Lee was now made commander-in-chief of 
all the Confederate armies; but it was an empty honor. 
From no other Southern force could Lee get help. He had 
not enough troops left to hold Richmond. We know how he 
retreated from burning Richmond with his starving men. In 
their hunger the soldiers gathered up the scattered grains of 
corn where the artillery horses had been fed. Still the troops 
looked to “ Marse Robert ” to rescue the army and carry on 
the fight. It was impossible. When Lee surrendered at 
Appomattox the war was done. 

As Lee rode back to his remaining men after the sur¬ 
render, they crowded around him, loyally trying to show their 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 


311 


sympathy, anxious to touch him or even “ Traveler.” With 
a trembling voice Lee spoke : “ Men, we have fought through 
the war together; I have done my best for you. My heart is 
too full to say more.” Thus with sad but kindly words he 
bade farewell to his gallant troops. 

“ Oh, General,” exclaimed one of his officers, “ what will 
history say of the surrender? ” “ That is not the question,” 

answered Lee. “ The question is, is it right? ” 

Back to Richmond rode Lee, no longer a soldier. As he 
passed through the streets of the partly-burned city the people 
cheered him and waved their hats and handkerchiefs. 
General Lee silently took off his own hat in response and rode 
on to the house where his family waited for him. Not long 
was he allowed to enjoy their company undisturbed, for he 
was soon tried for treason. General Grant strongly objected, 
and the trial came to nothing. Had Lee been hung or even 
imprisoned, one of the most powerful speakers for a true 
peace between South and North would have been silenced. 

For the Future of the South.—Lee was poor. The home 
at Arlington had been seized by the Government. Another 
house owned by Mrs. Lee had been burned by the Northern 
soldiers. There was nothing left. But offers came from all 
directions. Some admirers in England asked Lee to come 
across the ocean, and they would provide for him wealth and 
a country estate, but he refused. Other friends begged him 
to be a candidate for governor of Virginia. 

The only offer that Lee would accept was a call from a 
little college at Lexington, in the Virginia mountains. Wash¬ 
ington had left money to it, and in his honor it was named 
Washington College. The trustees asked Lee to become its 
president. Instead of a high salary he would receive fifteen 
hundred dollars a year, but Lee gladly took the position. Per¬ 
haps the very name of Washington influenced him somewhat. 
“ I hope to be able to do something for the young men of the 
South,” he said. “ In education lies our hope.” 


312 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


When Lee rode on old “ Traveler ” into Lexington, he 
found at the college four professors and forty students; but 
his coming changed that. The famous name of Lee made 
the little college famous. Students flocked thither from all 
parts of the South. In peace as in war Lee was a great 
leader. “ I have led the young men of the South to battle,” 
declared he. “I have seen many of them die on the field. I 
shall devote my remaining energy to training young men 
to do their duty in life.” 

“ Duty ” was Lee’s watchword for himself and for others. 
For five years he worked faithfully and well to build up a 
college whose graduates should be honorable and intelligent 
and should do their duty. When in 1870 this noble gentle¬ 
man died, as a fitting honor the name of the college was 
changed to Washington and Lee University, and his body 
was laid to rest there. 

Could Lee live today, he would be joyful to find that the 
old bitterness between North and South has almost passed 
away, and he would rejoice in the New South, which has 
grown so prosperous. Virginia may.well be proud of her 
two great leaders, Washington and Lee, great in war, great in 
peace, and truly great in the hearts of their countrymen. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. How did Grant’s appointment to West Point differ from that of Lee? 

2. Did most of the battles of the Civil War take place on Virginia 

soil? 

3. Compare Lee’s kindness to the little bird with that of Lincoln to 

animals. 

4. Draw a map of the opposing armies at Gettysburg. 

5. Which was the greater general, Grant or Lee? 

6. Would it have been right to try Lee for treason? Why? 

7. What became of Jefferson Davis, the Confederate President? 

8. What famous Americans besides Lee have been college presidents or 

professors ? 


william McKinley 


LEADER OF OUR WAR WITH SPAIN 

“ The war has brought us new duties and responsibilities which 
we must meet and discharge as becomes a great nation .”—Instructions 
to the American peace commissioners at Paris. 

I. SOLDIER AND STATESMAN 

Beginning Life.—“Rub-a-dub-dub! Rub-a-dub-dub!’ ’ 
To the sound of the drum a troop of little fellows, with 
cocked-hats of paper and wooden swords, marched up the 
street of a village in Ohio. It was the 
time of the Mexican War, and they all 
loved to play soldiers. No boy among 
them strutted more proudly than tiny 
William McKinley. Would not the 
youngster have opened his eyes wide if 
some one had told him that he would live 
through three wars of the United States 
and be the nation’s leader in the last 
of the three? 

William’s father managed an iron- TOUAM McKINLEY 
furnace near the village. Though he was not poor, he 
needed to be thrifty, for he had eight children to support. 
Fortunately Mrs. McKinley was a fine housewife and made 
every cent count to the best advantage. Her children all 
grew up to do her credit. Mr. McKinley, though his own 
education had been poor, determined to give the children 
good schooling. For this purpose he finally made the sacri¬ 
fice of sending his family to live in Poland, another Ohio 
town some distance away, although this meant that he could 
ride over from his furnace only once a week. 



313 


314 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


At the age of ten, having gone through the “ common ” 
school, William entered the Poland Seminary. He liked to 
learn. Though he was a real boy and delighted in play, yet 
he always preferred to learn his lessons for the next day 
before the play began. “ I have more fun when I do that,” 
he explained to the other boys. At “ speaking pieces ” 
William excelled. While some of the lads and lasses trembled 
and stammered when their turns came, William found it easy 
to stand “ straight as a stick ” and recite his selection. 

A Brave Volunteer.—When he was seventeen, William 
went to work. He taught school near his home, and received 
twenty-five dollars a month, which then was a fair salary. 
Spring came, and the school closed. Scarcely had William 
ceased to be a teacher when the young men of the North were 
called to arms. The South had fired on Fort Sumter. 

Most of the young fellows thought it would be great fun 
to volunteer and to see some battles, but William was wiser. 
He knew that there would be little fun, but much hardship, 
possibly wounds and death. Yet he felt it was his duty to 
go, and with the rest of the boys from Poland he volunteered 
for three years. 

After some fighting in West Virginia, William McKinley 
and his comrades were sent North to help against Lee’s men, 
who had invaded Maryland. The blue and the gray armies 
met at Antietam. William’s regiment was in the thick of the 
battle, but William was left a couple of miles behind as com¬ 
missary sergeant, in charge of provisions. 

The fight at Antietam began early in the day. Noon 
passed, and still the battle raged. William could not desert 
his duty, but he did long to take some active part. He thought 
of his comrades, who since their scanty breakfast had had no 
chance to eat. Calling to him some straggling soldiers, he 
put them to work. Soon he was hastening toward the firing- 


william McKinley 


315 


line with two wagons loaded with crackers, hot meat, and 
barrels of hot coffee. 

William drove the foremost wagon. The shells fell about 
him, bullets whistled through the air, but on he went until he 
found his regiment. When he began to hand out the welcome 
meal, the men, stretched on the ground to escape the enemy’s 
shots, raised such a cheer that the nearest general sent an 
officer to inquire what the noise meant. In spite of the heavy 
firing, William, unhurt, finished his work of serving the food. 
It put new life into the soldiers. “ That’s better than fifty 
fresh men,” they said. For this service, McKinley, not yet 
twenty, was made a second lieutenant. 

Again, in the Shenandoah Valley, McKinley made a 
dangerous trip to carry orders to a regiment that was nearly 
cut off from the rest of the army. When he returned from 
his wild gallop across the shell-swept fields, his colonel said, 
“ I never expected to see you again alive.” For this deed 
he was made captain. 

The Test Case.—When the war ended, McKinley was a 
major, but he did not rest on his laurels. At once he began 
to study law in a friend’s office. When he was admitted to 
the bar, he came to Canton, Ohio, and rented an office. In 
the building with McKinley was the office of Judge Belden, a 
prominent lawyer. The Judge took note of the studious, 
pleasant young fellow who was just beginning in his profes¬ 
sion. One afternoon, as McKinley sat with law-book in 
hand, in walked the Judge. “ I am not feeling well, McKinley. 
This case must be tried tomorrow morning, and you must 
take it,” said the Judge, offering the young man a package 
of papers. 

“But I have never tried a case in my life!” replied 
McKinley, astonished. “ I can’t do it on such short notice! ” 

“If you don’t do it, it won’t be done,” answered Belden. 
He laid the papers on McKinley’s desk and marched out of 


316 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


the office. McKinley’s pride was roused. All night he sat 
up, learning the case and preparing his arguments. Next day 
he argued the case before the court and won it. At the very 
back of the court-room, listening to McKinley, sat Judge 
Belden, whose illness somehow had disappeared. It was a 
trick to test the Major’s ability. A few days afterwards, the 
satisfied Judge took him in as a partner. From that time 
McKinley’s success was assured. 

Congressman and Governor.—When Ida Saxton, the 
daughter of one of Canton’s leading men, returned from a 
trip to Europe, the Major found her very attractive. In a 
short time he had won her heart. The couple made their 
home in Canton in a house given them by Mr. Saxton as a 
wedding present. They were very happy, and the birth of two 
little girls added to their joy. But before long the death of 
her mother and of both her daughters shocked Mrs. McKinley 
greatly. For the rest of her life she was an invalid, watched 
over with loving care by her husband. 

At thirty-three McKinley determined to run for Congress. 
It was then the fashion for Candidas to say, “ My friends 
have persuaded me to seek the office,” but McKinley was 
honest. “I want it,” he simply announced; then he set to 
work to win his ambition. The voters of his district listened 
to him and believed in his ability. McKinley went to Cong¬ 
ress, and the voters kept him there for fourteen years. 

In Congress McKinley soon became one of the foremost 
men. The President of the United States when McKinley 
entered Congress was Rutherford Hayes, who had been the 
Major’s colonel and friend in the Civil War. “ Study the 
tariff question. That is the great problem now,” advised 
President Hayes. McKinley studied the tariff so well that 
his words upon it were always considered with respect. He 
took his place as leader of those who believed in a protective 


william McKinley 317 

system. When a new tariff law was passed it was called the 
McKinley tariff. 

The people of Ohio were proud of their distinguished 
fellow-citizen. At last they elected him governor. He pleased 
them well. At the end of his first term misfortune threatened. 
McKinley had become surety for a friend in business. The 
friend became bankrupt, and McKinley suddenly found him¬ 
self $130,000 in debt. “ I will pay every dollar of it in time, ,, 
said McKinley. “ I will resign as governor and practice 
law again.” 

Mrs. McKinley, who had inherited a large sum from her 
father, insisted on giving it all to help her husband. When 
her lawyers objected, she exclaimed, “ He has done every¬ 
thing for me all my life. Do you mean to deny me the 
privilege of helping him now? ” But the wife’s money was 
not needed. McKinley’s friends raised the money and settled 
the debt. He was left free to stay in the governor’s mansion. 

The Front Porch.—A second time the people of Ohio 
made William McKinley their head. He was now con¬ 
sidered one of America’s leading men, and from many states 
came calls for him to make speeches. Grover Cleveland, the 
President, was going out of office, and McKinley was nomi¬ 
nated to fill his place. 

While the candidate on the other side, Mr. Bryan, made a 
“ whirlwind tour ” of the country in a special train, McKinley 
stayed at home in Canton and made his speeches from 
his own front porch. From morning to night the big 
lawn on Market Street was crowded with committees who 
came from all parts of the Union. To each “ delegation ” 
McKinley made a clear, powerful speech. The newspapers 
spread his words to every corner of the land. In November, 
1896, he was elected President. 


318 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 
II. IN THE HOUR OF VICTORY 


The Cuban Question.—One of the great tasks which 
President McKinley had promised to attempt was to secure 
peace and independence for Cuba. This rich island, as large 
as Pennsylvania, lying at our very door, was in misery. Spain 
owned it, but governed it badly. For many years there had 
been one revolution after another in Cuba. Now the island 
had fallen into a wretched condition. Spanish soldiers and 
Cuban rebels prowled over its wasted fields, trying to kill each 
other. Most of the men had gone into the rebel ranks, but 
the Spaniards had driven the women and children into the 
towns, where they starved and died. Unless something were 
quickly done, Cuba would be ruined. 

America was deeply interested in helping to solve the 
Cuban problem. We needed the sugar and tobacco which 
Cuba furnished us; we wanted the Cubans to buy our wheat, 
our meat, our manufactured goods. We were afraid that the 
diseases which swept over Cuba would be carried into our 
own country. But above all other feelings was that of pity 
for the suffering Cuban people. 

President Cleveland had offered to arbitrate between the 
Spaniards and the Cubans, but Spain had refused his help. 
Now President McKinley demanded of Spain that she should 
somehow stop this long, destructive war. Spain promised to 
do her best, and did agree to nearly everything except the 
independence of Cuba. Every American, however, doubted 
that Spain would carry out her promises. 

Waiting.—The people of America called aloud for war, 
and almost all the members of Congress urged McKinley to 
ask Congress to declare war. As long as there was any hope 
that Spain would agree to his requests, the President refused. 
“ I know what war means,” he said. “ It means the lives of 
American boys.” 


william McKinley 


319 


“ You are making a great mistake. You will ruin your¬ 
self in the eyes of the people/’ declared many of his friends. 
Still McKinley waited. 

The American battleship Maine was blown up while 
peacefully lying in Havana harbor. More than two hundred 
and fifty of our sailors perished. “ The Spaniards did it,” 
cried the Americans. “ Remember the Maine! ” became a 
watchword through our country. Excitement rose to fever 



THE U. S. BATTLESHIP “MAINE” ENTERING HAVANA HARBOR 


heat. Still McKinley held back. At last, one April day in 
1898, he sat at his desk in the White House with the long- 
looked-for message to Congress before him, completed but 
not signed. A crowd of important men filled the room. 
“ Don’t delay another day, Mr. President,” they exclaimed. 
But a telegram arrived from our representative in Cuba. 
Many Americans were still there, unable to get away. If war 
were declared now, their lives would be in danger. The 
President, his face pale with emotion, rose to his feet. Pound¬ 
ing the table with his fist, he said, “ That message shall not 
go to Congress as long as a single American life is in danger 
in Cuba. Mr. Secretary, put that message into the safe.” 






320 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


On Land and Sea.—But a few days later came the time 
for the message. It was sent. Congress declared that Cuba 
should be free, and that the United States would force Spain 
to withdraw from the island. We doubled our regular army 
and accepted, beside, two hundred thousand volunteers. We 
sent part of our fine navy, which Cleveland had done so much 
to improve, to the Philippine Islands, and the remainder went 
to the West Indies. 

Our navy was in fine condition. By the foresight of 
Theodore Roosevelt, who then was Assistant Secretary of 
the Navy, there had been constant target practice, and the 
“ men behind the guns ” were fit .and ready. Admiral Dewey’s 
fleet destroyed the Spanish ships in Manila Bay, and the 
Philippine Islands fell into our hands. Admiral Sampson’s 
gray battleships wiped out the enemy’s vessels at Santiago 
Harbor in Cuba. All Europe stood amazed at our wonderful 
victories on the water. 

On land our armies had a harder task. We easily captured 
the city of Manila and conquered the island of Porto Rico. 
But the Spanish army at Santiago City gave us much trouble. 
We lost many men by bullets and disease. The American 
commander grew discouraged. When at last the Spanish 
general offered to leave Santiago and go elsewhere if he were 
not disturbed, our commander wished to make the bargain, 
but President McKinley telegraphed: “ That is not war. 
What you went to Santiago for was the Spanish army. If 
you let it go now you must meet it somewhere else. Make the 
Spaniards surrender.” This was done, and Spain saw that 
she was beaten. 

New Cares.—The time of the war, short as it was, proved 
a time of tremendous cares for the President. He was a 
true leader. The room next to his office became the “ war- 
room.” Its walls were covered with maps, on which tiny 
flag-pins showed the positions of our troops and our ships, as 


william McKinley 


321 


announced by telegrams from the front. Every day Mc¬ 
Kinley, his Secretary of War, and his Secretary of the Navy 
held a meeting and consulted as to the best moves in the great 
war-game. Every night the President’s lamp burned late. He 
was as busy as Lincoln had been during the Civil War. 

Yet though he grew pale and haggard with many 
anxieties, McKinley, like Lincoln, could stop to heed a 
mother’s cry. The mother of a young lieutenant lay very ill. 
Her heart was breaking because she had heard nothing from 
her son and she feared that he was dead. The pastor of the 
mother’s church telegraphed to the President, asking if news 
of the soldier son could be obtained. Two days later came 
the reply: “ On receiving your*telegram the President at once 
took up the matter. The young man is alive and well. Please 
inform his mother.” The strain of war had not robbed 
McKinley’s heart of its kindness. 

The end of the war marked the beginning of a new period 
of history for the United States. We not only freed Cuba, 
but we also received, as our own, Porto Rico, the Philippine 
Islands, and other islands far away in the Pacific. For the 
first time we possessed land half-way around the globe from 
our nation’s capital, across the broad ocean, and inhabited by 
people strange to our race. America faced new problems 
of government. The roar of Dewey’s guns signaled that 
America was about to become a great world power. 

“ I know,” said McKinley, “ with what added respect the 
nations of the world now deal with the United States.” But 
the new power brought new problems, and these were hard to 
solve. “ I have had enough of it, Heaven knows,” declared 
the President, when he was asked to run for a second term. 
“ I have had responsibilities enough to kill any man.” He 
wished to go back to Canton to spend the years in his old 
home. But he was nominated again for President and 
was elected. 

21 


322 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


An Assassin’s Bullet.—In the fall after he had once more 
become President, McKinley went to visit the Pan-American 1 
Exposition at Buffalo, New York. He was received with 
great honor, and he made an inspiring speech. “ How near, 
one to the other, is every part of the globe,” said he. 
“Modern inventions have brought together widely separated 
peoples. God and man have linked the nations together. No 
nation can longer be indifferent to any other. And as we are 
brought more and more into touch with each other, the less 
occasion is there for misunderstandings. Our real eminence 
rests in the victories of peace, not those of war. Our earnest 
prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, 
happiness, and peace to all our neighbors.” 

The next afternoon a long line of visitors moved past 
the President. He greeted with special interest the children. 
Perhaps they reminded him of his own little daughters. It 
was almost time for the President to leave. Among the last 
in the line came a slender young man, a foreigner, who 
opposed all government and thought all rulers bad. As he 
reached the President two pistol-shots rang out and McKinley 
staggered. Both bullets had struck his body. 

The Secret Service men who stood near McKinley leaped 
upon the assassin. Some one struck him full in the face. In 
spite of his injury, the heart of McKinley pitied the man, and 
he cried, “ Don’t let them hurt him! ” Then the President 
thought of Mrs. McKinley, whose caretaker he had been so 
many years. “ My wife,” he whispered as his secretary bent 
over him, “ be careful how you tell her.” None of the Presi¬ 
dent’s thoughts were for himself. Soon the nation mourned, 
for its leader had passed away. 

1 “ Pan-American ” means “All American” or “United American.” 
The name betokened that we considered all the nations on the western 
Continent as fellow-Americans. 



william McKinley 


323 


All that our people could do was done to honor the dead 
President. This was a man blameless in his private life and 
honest in his public service. A million persons joined their 
contributions, and a national memorial was built at Canton, 
wherein, as in the tomb of Grant, rest the stone coffins of the 
President and his wife. On the base of the great bronze 
statue of McKinley, which stands before the building, are the 
fitting words : “ Good Citizen—Brave Soldier—Wise Execu¬ 
tive—Helper and Leader of Men.” 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Find the names of all the battles in which McKinley took part. 

2. Find some additional particulars about the Cuban rebellion against 

Spain. 

3. Tell of the wonderful victory of our navy at Santiago Bay. 

4. Which admiral deserved more credit, Dewey or Sampson? 

5. In what condition is Cuba today? 

6. What are the “ modern inventions ” which, McKinley said, “ have 

brought together widely separated peoples ? ” 

7. In what ways is the United States a world-power today? 


CLARA BARTON 


ANGEL OF THE BATTLEFIELD 

“Your joy will be the joy of those you serve and minister to; 
your reward the success you achieve. It is a search for the Holy 
Grail .”—Speech to Red Cross workers at Boston. 

The Little Nurse.—A little girl, Clara Barton, lived on a 
Massachusetts farm, about twenty miles from the spot where 
Eli Whitney was born. Though Clara was small and slender, 
there was a great and daring spirit in her slight body. At the 
age of five, one of her chief amusements was to go with 
her brother David to the pasture-field to ride the horse. 
Clara learned to feel as much at home in a saddle as 
in a rocking-chair. 

But the rides with David came to an end. One day when 
Clara was eleven, her big, strong brother was brought home 
nearly dead. He had fallen from the top of a. barn and had 
struck his head. “ David will need careful nursing,” said the 
doctor. “Then I want to take care of him,” pleaded little 
Clara. Her mother and elder sister smiled at the idea, 
but soon they found that Clara made a faithful and 
intelligent nurse. 

It was a very long illness for David. During two years 
Clara watched with loving Care over her brother. “ In all 
that time,” she afterward remarked, “ I left his bedside for 
only one half day. I almost forgot that there was an outside 
to the house.” What was her joy when at last David com¬ 
pletely recovered his strength! How she blushed when he 
declared that his cure was due to his little nurse! 

The Young School-Teacher.—Clara had paid a large price 
for bringing her brother back to health. In the two years 

324 


CLARA BARTON 


325 


which she had spent shut up in the sick-room she had not 
grown any taller or heavier. She had become so bashful and 
timid that she disliked to meet strangers and sometimes 
avoided speaking to her own family. Captain Barton, in 
order to keep his delicate daughter outdoors, gave her a fine 



Epler’s Life of Barton. Courtesy Macmillan Co. 

CLARA BARTON 

horse. Clara called her steed Billy, and took many an exciting 
gallop with him across the fields. 

But though the horseback rides put color into Clara’s 
cheeks, they did not take away her shyness. She quickly 
learned whatever her brothers and sisters, all teachers, gave 
her to study, but she did not like to go to school, because she 
had to meet so many other children. One day, Clara, now 
fifteen, lay sick with the mumps. Mrs. Barton, in the next 
room, was asking a visitor what to do with her timid girl. 





826 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


“ Give her something to do out in the world,” answered the 
gentleman. “ Let her teach school.” 

The idea of teaching attracted Clara. She went to the 
next examination for teachers, passed with an excellent mark, 
and was given a country school. Then the little teacher “ let 
down her skirts and put up her hair” and took charge of forty 
children, though she was herself but a child. In the school¬ 
room she outgrew much of her bashfulness and found that 
the advice of her mother’s friend was wise. 

Caring for the Soldiers.—For eighteen years Clara Barton 
taught in various schools, always with wonderful success. At 
last, however, her health broke down some years before the 
Civil War began. She then found a position in Washington 
as a government clerk. 

When Fort Sumter was fired upon, a regiment of Mass¬ 
achusetts troops started off to defend Washington against the 
Confederates. While passing through Baltimore, the soldiers 
were attacked by a mob; four of them were killed and thirty 
wounded; but they reached Washington in time to help save 
the city. Clara Barton went to the station, with many other 
women, to welcome the brave men from her own state. 

Among the wounded she saw some of the boys she had 
once taught. Clara tore up her handkerchiefs to make 
bandages, and then ran home to get sheets for the same kind 
purpose. She helped to feed the hungry, tired men. They 
had come away from home with no baggage, and the army 
was not ready to take good care of them. Clara found this 
out, and immediately advertised in a Massachusetts paper 
that she would receive supplies and money for her “ boys.” 
So much was sent that she packed her room full, then hired 
space in a store. No soldiers ever fared better than those 
whom Clara Barton served. 

This work for the soldiers acted like magic on Clara 
Barton’s mind. It swept away all shyness. She no longer 


CLARA BARTON 


327 


feared to face other people. Her duty lay clear before her; it 
was to help the suffering. All of her previous life had been a 
preparation for this task. 

On the Battlefield.—Battles were fought near Washing¬ 
ton. As the wounded were brought in, Clara Barton met 
them. She washed their bloody gashes, put healing salves on 
their sores, and gave them reviving medicines. “ Why could 
not these men be cared for better on the battlefield? ” thought 
she. “ If I could be there I could doubtless save many lives.’’ 

“No woman is allowed near the fighting-line,” said most 
of the army officers. “ It is no place for a woman.” But 
Clara Barton said, “ I am needed.” At last the officers yielded 
to her appeals. Soon the wounded soldiers learned to look 
for the “ Angel of the Battlefield” with her wagons of sup¬ 
plies, and blessed her for the tender care which she gave. 
For two and one-half years Clara Barton carried on her 
noble work. She suffered many hardships ; she was nearly 
captured; twice she escaped death by a hair’s-breadth; but she 
cared not if only she could soothe pain and save life. 

The Red Cross in Europe.—When the war ended, Miss 
Barton was asked to give many lectures on her experiences. 
As she had inherited from her father enough money to sup¬ 
port her, the proceeds from these lectures were given to help 
trace the eighty thousand missing men whose fate had never 
been learned by their dear ones. 

One night, on the platform, Clara Barton’s voice failed. 
Next day she lay on a bed of sickness. The hardships of 
the battlefield had done their work. “Three years of rest,” 
prescribed the doctor. 

In Europe Clara Barton hoped to find the needed rest. 
Two months after her landing, she was in Switzerland. To 
her came the president of the “ International Committee for 
the Relief of the Wounded in War.” The sign of this 
organization was a red cross upon a white ground, so it was 


328 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


usually called the “ Red Cross Society.” Back of the society 
was a treaty, signed by all the civilized nations of the world 
except America. “ Why did not America sign? ” asked the 
Red Cross president. “ Why does not your country want 
Red Cross societies ? ” Clara Barton could not answer. 

Miss Barton had never known that the Red Cross existed, 
but she now understood its great work. A year later came 
the war between France and the various German states. 
Again the Red Cross came to Clara Barton. She could not 
resist the call to help. Though her doctors said, “ It will kill 
you,” Miss Barton set off for the battle-front along the Rhine. 
For more than a year she labored, setting up hospitals and 
work-rooms, saving wounded soldiers and giving work to 
starving women and children. French and Germans alike 
received her help. Europe loved and honored Clara Barton, 
and America was proud of its distinguished daughter. When, 
at the end of 1873, she returned home, it was with the resolve 
to set up the Red Cross Society in her own land. 

The American Red Cross.—By letters to her friends, by 
many speeches, by visits to the President, then by appeals to 
Congress, Clara Barton carried on her campaign for the Red 
Cross society. The great objection to it in the minds of 
public men was that as we never expected America to have 
another war, the society would not be needed. “ But we have 
great national disasters,” answered Miss Barton. “ There 
are terrible fires, and floods, and fevers. The Red Cross can 
relieve sufferers from such evils.” 

Almost in despair of getting help from the Government, 
Clara Barton formed a private Red Cross society. Three 
women and one man were the first members, but “ great oaks 
from little acorns grow.” As soon as James A. Garfield 
became President a better day opened for the Red Cross. He 
had been a soldier ; he had seen and admired Clara Barton’s 
work. Even though a murderer’s bullet struck him down, 


CLARA BARTON 


329 


Vice-President Arthur, who then became President, felt 
Garfield’s spirit, and signed the Geneva Treaty. This act 
bound the American Government to favor the Red Cross. 

Mississippi River floods, Florida yellow fever, Western 
tornadoes, Southern hurricanes, many other disasters, called 
into action the aid of the Red Cross. To famine sufferers in 
Russia went grain-ships bearing that flag of comfort. Clara 
Barton herself, at the age of seventy-five, traveled to Turkey 
with a band of workers so that the suffering Armenians 
might be relieved. Each year the Red Cross strengthened its 
hold upon the heart of America. 

Service in Cuba. Clara Barton Retires.—When, in 1898, 
the Maine lay in Havana Harbor, Clara Barton was in 
Havana, helping the poor Cubans. Captain Sigsbee enter¬ 
tained her at lunch on this battleship, and the crew drilled for 
her pleasure. Only a few days later, as Miss Barton sat late 
in the night at her writing table, there was a deafening roar, 
a blaze of light over the harbor, and the room shook as though 
with an earthquake. The Maine had been destroyed. As 
Clara Barton approached the burned survivors in the hospital, 
the first one said, “ I knew you would come to us. I am 
so thankful.'” 

That was the beginning of much service for Americans 
in Cuba. When the Rough Riders and their fellow-troops 
stormed San Juan Hill, Clara Barton and her nurses were on 
hand with their supplies. At the dawn of the day after the 
battle a sturdy figure in khaki appeared at the Red Cross tent. 
“ I have some sick men in my regiment who won’t give up 
and go to the hospital. I need some special food such as you 
have,” said the officer. “Can I buy it here? ” “ Not for a 

million dollars,” answered Miss Barton. “ But my men^need 
them, and I am proud of my men,” replied the officer. “ We 
don’t sell hospital supplies,” said the Red Cross president. 


330 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


“ Then how can I get them? ” “ Just ask for them, Colonel.” 1 
“ Oh! ” smiled Roosevelt, in relief, “ just lend me a sack and 
IT1 take them right along.” Ever after that the Red Cross 
had a staunch friend in Theodore Roosevelt. 

Six years later the Red Cross Society became an actual 
part of the United States Government. The President of our 
country became the Red Cross President, and United States 



CLARA BARTON AND THEODORE ROOSEVELT IN CUBA 


officials formed a part of the Board of Directors. The volun¬ 
teers who work in the Red Cross relief work are now actually 
in the service of Uncle Sam. Even a mightier hand than 
that of Clara Barton now ruled the American Red Cross, 
The need for her direction was over. At the age of eighty- 
three she retired from the work, but lived, busy and active, 
in beautiful Glen Echo, just outside of Washington, until she 
passed away at the age of over ninety. 

1 Theodore Roosevelt was then only Lieutenant-Colonel of the Rough 
Riders. Dr. Leonard Wood was their Colonel. 













CLARA BARTON 


331 


Could Clara Barton have lived only a few years more she 
would have seen her beloved Red Cross doing wonderful work 
during the Great War. Red Cross ambulances carried the 
wounded soldiers to fine Red Cross hospitals. The boys in 
khaki, as they traveled to and from the military camps, were 
served with refreshments by the Red Cross canteen workers. 
The families left at home were watched over by the Red Cross 
Home Service department. No wonder that Uncle Sam 
counted the Red Cross as one of his chief aids, and that he 
gladly helped to erect in Washington the splendid marble 
building which is the national headquarters of the society. 
As that structure stands facing the Washington monument 
today, it seems to represent both the beauty and the useful¬ 
ness of the life of Clara Barton. 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. After what battles of the Civil War did Clara Barton give help to 

the wounded? 

2. How did Clara Barton twice narrowly escape death? 

3. How did the European Red Cross begin its work? Whose was the 

idea? 

4. Mention several additional United States disasters in which the Red 

Cross gave its wonderful aid. 

5. Tell of some forms of Red Cross work in the Great War that have 

not been mentioned. 

6. What Red Cross work has been done in your school? In your class? 


FRANCES ELIZABETH WILLARD 


LEADER OF THE WHITE RIBBON ARMY 

“ Alone, we can do little; united, we are batteries of power.”— 
Speech at Chicago. 

The Tomboy.—In the year 1850, a young girl, Frances 
Willard, was living on a farm in the “ backwoods ” of 
southern Wisconsin. She thought it would be much better if 
she were a boy instead of a girl. She did not care for girls’ 
work. In her journal or diary she wrote, “ Now I have got 
to do my awful needlework,” and “ I baked a cake, but had 
no luck at all.” Once her name was published in a children’s 
paper, and Frances felt very proud until she found it was 
printed “ Francis.” Then she complained to her mother, “ I 
guess they don’t think a girl can come to anything in this 
world anyhow.” 

Active Frances, with her eager blue eyes and her flying 
light hair, was a regular outdoor girl. She went fishing in 
summer and coasting in winter, she played ball and shot at a 
target. Though she liked to read, and to write stories, she pre¬ 
ferred to do both in the fresh air. In the top of a big oak tree 
Frances made a seat. Then she nailed to the oak a board on 
which she painted, “ The Eagle’s Nest. Beware! ” In her 
“ nest ” far above thej ground, the lassie passed many a free, 
happy hour. 

On the Wisconsin prairies nearly every one rode horse¬ 
back. Mr. Willard, however, thought it was too dangerous 
for his daughter, and would not let her even try. How 
Frances envied her older brother Oliver, as he saddled his 
horse and trotted off! At last she said, “ I’ll just have to 
ride something! ” With a great deal of trouble she trained 

332 


FRANCES ELIZABETH WILLARD 


333 


a cow to carry a saddle. Although riding a bumpy old cow 
proved to be no fun, Mr. Willard, seeing how anxious his 
girl was to ride, gave his consent for Frances to use a horse. 
Then her cup of enjoyment was full. 

Getting “ Advantages Until she was sixteen Frances 
did not go to a real school. Her father and mother were 



Gordon’s Life of Willard 

FRANCES ELIZABETH WILLARD 

well educated and had many books. They also subscribed 
for magazines and newspapers; so that Frances learned much 
through reading and could express her thoughts well. Yet 
she longed for regular study. 

When at last a log school-house was built in the neighbor¬ 
hood, Frances could hardly wait for the first Monday of the 
term. Long before light, on that cold January day, she got 




334 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


up and stirred about the house. She could scarcely eat any 
breakfast, and grew so impatient that Oliver yoked the oxen 
to the sled and took her to school before the “ master ” 
arrived. Frances promptly got the school key from the nearby 
house where it was kept, made a fire in the stove, and took 
possession of the building. “ Now I shall have advantages 
like other folks,” she wrote that night in her journal. 



Two years later, Frances went to a girls’ college in 
Evanston, a village just north of Chicago. She was studying 
there when Lincoln was nominated at Chicago for President. 
“ I wish I had been, there,” she wrote. “ The accounts that 
father and Oliver gave of the excitement, the cheers, the hand¬ 
shakings, and the handkerchief wavings have made me very 
enthusiastic.” Frances had already decided that it was a 
woman’s duty to understand politics and to vote. After 
Frances had heard Catherine Beecher lecture, she was even 
more sure of that opinion. 






FRANCES ELIZABETH WILLARD 


335 


For about ten years Frances taught in various places. 
Then a rich girl friend took her as a companion on a trip to 
Europe. They did not return to America until nearly three 
years had passed. Frances was now thirty-one. 

Leader of College Girls.—Back in Evanston once more, 
Frances made her home with her widowed mother in “ Rest 
Cottage.’’ One day, as Frances was busy tacking down the 
stair-carpet, a friend, the wife of a professor in the nearby 
college, came in. “ Frank,” she said, “ I am amazed at you. 
Let some one else tack down carpets, and you take charge of 
our new college for women.” “ Very well,” replied Frances, 
jokingly, “ I was only waiting to be asked.” 

But it proved to be no joke. Frances Willard became the 
first woman president of an American college. The college, 
however, as Frances said, was “ all dreams and no dollars.” 
It had not yet come into being. Frances had to travel about, 
make many speeches on the need of higher education for 
women, and beg for money. She grew used to public speak¬ 
ing, and her pleading for subscriptions was successful. The 
“ Women’s College of Northwestern University ” finally 
opened its doors. 

Frances Willard dearly loved the girl students whose life 
she directed. On their part, the girls showed such affection 
for their leader that some persons said, “ She has bewitched 
them.” Not many years, however, did Frances stay at the 
college. Some of its officers interfered with her plans and 
she thought it best to resign. Because her resignation had 
not been necessary, to give up the headship of the college at 
thirty-five years of age, seemed like throwing away success. 
The future proved, however, Frances Willard was just about 
to find her real success in the world. 

The Cause of Temperance.—In the previous year, 1873, 
there arose a great movement among the women of America. 
It was called the Women’s Temperance Crusade. For 


336 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


seventy-five years there had been temperance societies in our 
country, but their members were all men. Women were not 
supposed to take any part in such public affairs. Now, how¬ 
ever, the American sisters and daughters, wives and mothers, 
began to show that the fight against liquor was indeed their 
business. Liquor would not let them alone. It ruined their 
men and spoiled their homes. Could the women afford any 
longer to let the liquor business alone ? 

In her college work Frances Willard had already done 
much to help the temperance cause. As soon as she left the 
college, shq traveled to the East to see what work was being 
planned by the women temperance leaders there. She felt 
called to join with them, but how was she to live? Little 
“ Rest Cottage ” and a small sum of money was all that she 
and her mother owned. 

While pondering over the matter, Frances opened the 
Bible which lay on the table in the hotel room. Her eyes fell 
upon a verse, “ Trust in the Lord, and do good. . . .and verily, 
thou shalt be fed.” That seemed like an answer to her doubts. 
Soon two letters came to her on the selfsame day. The first 
asked her to be head of a fashionable boarding-school for 
girls, at $2400 a year. The other offered her the office of 
president of the Chicago branch of the Women’s Christian 
Temperance Union, which had grown out of the temperance 
crusade by the women. In this office Frances would receive 
no salary at all, but it was this call which she accepted. Now 
she had found the work which made her happiest and did most 
good to others. 

For God and Home and Native Land.—With her few 
brave and earnest supporters, Frances Willard began her 
task in Chicago. Her fellow-workers soon loved her and 
looked up to her as much as had her college girls. She was a 
wonderful speaker, and thus made thousands upon thousands 
of people first consider the temperance question, then believe 


FRANCES ELIZABETH WILLARD 


337 


in the necessity of temperance. 1 From the bare little office of 
the Chicago W. C. T. U. came many articles which Frances 
managed to have published in the city newspapers. 

In her zeal for the cause Frances at first accepted no 
salary. All the money to support her came from small col¬ 
lections at various) meetings in which she spoke. Often her 
tired feet walked several miles because she had not car-fare; 
often she went hungry because her purse was empty. At last 
the women of the W. C. T. U., who were entirely willing to 
pay their leader, learned how poor she was. They gave her a 
regular salary, and her needless suffering ended; but Frances 
Willard often said afterward, “I am glad of those days of 
poverty, because now I can truly sympathize with the hungry 
people I meet.” 

Only a few years had passed when Frances became presi¬ 
dent of the National W. C. T. U. It was a great thing to be 
head of such an army of American women. The first aim of 
these women was to stop the sale and the use of strong drink, 
but they were ready to help along many other right and just 
causes. “ We are working for God, and home, and native 
land,” said their leader. 

The Women’s Army.—When, in 1888, the National 
W. C. T. U. held in New York its fifteenth yearly convention, 
its leader, Frances Willard, was the best-known woman in the 
United States. She looked from the platform of the conven¬ 
tion hall over a crowd of delegates representing half a million 
of the best women of our land. Every state in the Union had 
sent delegates. There was a force in these earnest women 

1 Temperance does not mean exactly the same as total abstinence 
from intoxicating drink, but the W. C. T. U. considered that it had that 
meaning. “Temperance” was a more convenient term to use than was 
“total abstinence,” and it has the broader meaning, applying to wise 
conduct in many ways. 

22 



338 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


which no wise governing persons could afford to despise. The 
temperance idea was growing mighty. 

Forty different kinds of work for goodness and right did 
the W. C. T. U. carry on. There was scientific temperance 
instruction in the schools, there was a temperance hospital, 
which used no liquor in curing its patients, there was a tem¬ 
perance publishing association. Even a department of mercy, 
to prevent cruelty to animals, was part, and a very important 
part, of the W. C. T. U. work. 

Do' you think Frances Willard had an easy task to direct 
such a great body of active people? Indeed, she was kept 
busy. Her strength of body and of mind was taxed to the 
utmost. She was called upon to make journeys each year all 
over the country. For twelve years her average of public 
speeches was one a day. While on the train her pencil 
scribbled off many articles to inspire her army of helpers. 
Ten thousand special letters went out yearly from her own 
office. “ What it would be to have an idle hour,” she said, 
“ I find it hard to fancy.” 

Temperance Triumphs.—Three years after the great New 
York convention, there was one at Boston, but now it was a 
World’s W. C. T. U. The white ribbon, the sign of the 
union, had encircled the globe. Who should be president if 
not Frances Willard? As she saw before her the temperance 
representatives from thirty-four countries, she was glad 
and proud. “We represent the human rather than the 
woman question,” she cried. “ Ours is the cause of 
home protection! ” 

For seven years more Frances Willard led her women in 
the fight against “home’s greatest enemy—the saloon.” 
Every year saw hosts of new members for the W. C. T. U.; 
every year saw progress being made in the defeat of the evil 
spirit of strong drink. At last, just before America went 
into the war with Spain, a fatal influenza attacked the great 


FRANCES ELIZABETH WILLARD 


339 


White-Ribboner. As she lay on her sick-bed, Frances 
Willard still tried to direct the temperance work. “ It has 
been a great fight/’ she said, “ and people will never know 
what we’ve been through.” 

The great leader of the W. C. T. U. was gone, but she 
had convinced the best people of the nation that the liquor 
habit was wasteful and deadly. The railroads began to 
refuse to employ men who drank. Business houses followed 
their example. Americans must have clear heads and steady 
hands, said intelligent employers. At last in 1918, forty-five 
out of our forty-eight states voted that our land should do 
away with the manufacture of intoxicating liquor. Could 
Frances Willard have lived only twenty years longer, she 
would have been able to rejoice with the rest of the 
W. C. T. U. army at the defeat of this enemy to “ home and 
native land.” 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Are schools necessary in order to educate American children? Why? 

2. Find as many reasons as possible why American women were opposed 

to the liquor business. 

3. From some W. C. T. U. find out what lines of work the society is 

carrying on today. 

4. Why was a knot of white ribbon selected as the emblem of the 

W. C. T. U.? 

5. In which of your school studies have you come closest to the work 

of the W. C. T. U.? Why? 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


THE PRESIDENT OF ACTION 

“ Success comes only to those who load the life of endeavor.”— 
Speech at Minneapolis. 

I. VIGOR AND VIM 

The Weak Boy Grows Strong.—In a bedroom of a New 
York City mansion, one night during the Civil War, an 
anxious father walked up and down carrying his little son. 
The lad had asthma and could scarcely breathe. It seemed 
at times as though he would choke to death. “ Can Theodore 
live to grow up? ” was the question in Mr. Roosevelt’s mind 
that night and often afterward. 

Theodore Roosevelt did live, but he was far from being 
strong. At the age of eleven, he was tall and thin, with 
“ legs like pipestems ” and a narrow chest. His blue eyes 
were so near-sighted that he seemed awkward and clumsy 
when outdoors, yet though he loved to read, he took pleasure 
in being in the fresh air. 

As he pored over some favorite stories of outdoor life, 
the thought came to him, “ I will make myself strong. I 
want to be like those fearless men I read about, who can hold 
their own in the world.” Fortunately for Theodore, his 
father was rich and gave him every advantage. On the big 
back porch of the New York home was a regular gymnasium 
with all kinds of apparatus. In summer Theodore led a free, 
happy life at the Roosevelt home near Oyster Bay on the 
north shore of Long Island. When the winter tried the boy’s 
weak lungs too severely, he was taken across the ocean to a 
warmer climate. Theodore was a fortunate lad. 

S40 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


341 



When Theodore became thirteen, he put on spectacles for 
the first time. They opened to him a new power. He saw 
how beautiful was the world, and felt that he stood on equal 
terms with other boys. Now he had more reason than ever 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



Ml 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


for growing strong. He practiced hard in the porch gym¬ 
nasium, he took boxing lessons, he swam, he rowed his boat 
over stormy waters, he tramped long distances, he took horse¬ 
back rides, he camped out in the woods. By the time he was 
ready to enter college, Theodore Roosevelt had gained broad 
shoulders and strong muscles. Though he still looked some¬ 
what slender and delicate, he could stand more hardship than 
many bigger fellows. 

The College Man in Politics.—At Harvard College it was 
easy to find young men who surpassed Theodore in either 
athletics or studies, but it was hard to discover anyone who 
had a more active body or mind. Theodore liked to wrestle 
and box, even though he had to box with his spectacles on his 
nose and thus run the risk of having broken glass driven into 
his eyes. His favorite studies were those that took up the 
life of man or explained the great outdoors. Anything which 
dealt with life and action appealed to him. “ He is a good 
sportsman,” said his classmates. “ He is always fair and 
square, and never tries to humbug other people or him¬ 
self either.” 

Almost as soon as- he graduated from college, at the age 
of twenty-one Roosevelt married Alice Lee of Boston, and 
the young people set up housekeeping in New York. 
Although Roosevelt had no need to work for a living, he was 
not disposed to remain idle. “ You can do a great deal of 
good in politics,” said one of his uncles, and Roosevelt began 
to help along the cause of good government. “ You will meet 
rough, ignorant, disagreeable people,” complained some of 
Roosevelt’s rich friends. “ Well, if they are successful in 
politics they are better than I,” replied Theodore, “ for they 
govern you and me. Are we satisfied to let them do it ? ” 

Into politics went Roosevelt, and he studied law to learn 
the proper ways to carry out his ideas. Soon he was elected 
to the New York legislature, but while he was in Albany,. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


343 


doing his best to give the state good service, a great cloud of 
sorrow came over his life. His young wife died, leaving a 
tiny baby girl, Alice. Roosevelt tried to forget his grief by 
working harder than ever in politics, but when he lost his 
office there was nothing to hold him in New York. Westward 
he turned and became a ranchman in the wild territory 
of Dakota. 1 

The Ranchman. Back to Public Service.—On his Elk- 
horn ranch Roosevelt made his home for the next two years. 
He lived and worked with the cowboys. As the men of the 
plains learned that this young fellow of twenty-five asked no 
favors and was always ready to do his share, they forgot to 
laugh at his glasses and his “ college talk.” Roosevelt, on his 
part, admired the bravery and the skill of the ranchmen; he 
loved their life. “ We knew toil and hardship and hunger 
and thirst,” said he, “ and we saw men die violent deaths; 
but ours was the glory of work and the joy of living.” 

Roosevelt’s friends in New York did not forget him, 
though he was far away. One evening, as he opened his 
mail before the blazing fire in his big log cabin, Roosevelt 
read the news that he had been nominated for Mayor of New 
York City. At once he began to pack his trunk, and the next 
day took the train back to his home city. He did not expect 
to be elected, but he made a good fight, and was not much 
disappointed at losing. A playmate of his childhood, Miss 
Edith Kermit Carow, became his wife, and he once more 
settled down in New York, though for several years he spent 
vacations upon the Dakota ranch. 

Under President Cleveland, Roosevelt worked hard for 
“civil service reform” in the United States Government. 
He showed the nation that “ Fair Play ” was his motto. Then 
he became one of the heads of the police department in New 

1 It then had not been made into the states of North Dakota and 
South Dakota. 




344 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


York City. Before long the newspapers of the whole country 
published items about the young police commissioner who 
stood so firm for honesty and good order in the greatest city 
of our land. For a time he was the most interesting man in 
New York. No one could scare him, no one could keep him 
quiet when he was sure he was right. 

Fine Work for Our Navy.—Next, President McKinley 
made Roosevelt Assistant Secretary of the Navy. It was 
not thought to be an important position, but Roosevelt’s chief 
left him free to do very much as he liked, and Roosevelt made 
the position important. Things had a way of happening 
when he appeared. 

From the time Roosevelt took the post, he believed that 
we would be forced into war with Spain over Cuba. Our 
navy had good ships and good officers, but our men were poor 
in gunnery. “ The only shots that count are the shots that 
hit,” said Roosevelt. Congress gave the navy nearly a million 
dollars for ammunition and thought that was a generous 
amount. In a month Roosevelt was back again asking for 
more powder and shells. “ What have you done with the 
money we gave you? ” said Congress. “ Burned it all up,” 
answered Roosevelt. When war did come, the good shooting 
of the American sailors knocked the Spanish ships to pieces 
so quickly that it surprised the world. 

It was Roosevelt who encouraged Lieutenant Sims (now 
Admiral Sims, who commanded our fleet in European waters 
during the Great War) to keep up the gunnery of the navy. 
It was Roosevelt who secured for Dewey the command of 
our ships on the coast of Asia and saw to it that he was 
ready for action when it was necessary to capture Manila. 
But when war broke out, Roosevelt stopped preparing others 
to fight and took steps to get into it himself. 

The Rough-Riders.—“ I will raise a regiment of good 
fighters, outdoor men,” promised Roosevelt. “If you do 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


345 


that, I will make you its colonel/’ said the Secretary of War. 
Though Roosevelt had trained for four years in the New 
York National Guard, and had reached the rank of captain, 
he was not puffed up with too much pride. “ I do not know 
enough yet to command a regiment,” answered he. “ Make 
me lieutenant-colonel, and give the command to my friend, 
Doctor Leonard Wood.” It was done. In the new regiment 
college athletes from the East mat cowboys and Indian 
fighters from the West. The American people called them 
“ The Rough-Riders,” and every one thought that it was a 
fine name. 

At last, by the energy of Wood and Roosevelt, the 
Rough-Riders found themselves in Cuba. All was confusion, 
for our army was not in the good condition of our navy. 
Nearly half the Rough-Riders, and nearly all of their horses, 
had been left at home because there were not ships enough to 
carry them. Three days after landing, Roosevelt’s regiment, 
marching through the jungle, heard the Spanish bullets 
whistling about their ears. Before they could drive away the 
enemy nearly fifty of the Rough-Riders lay on the ground. 
Roosevelt ; while warning his men to take cover, refused to 
do so himself. Fear had no place in his nature. 

Charging the Hill. High Honors.—A few days later the 
Rough-Riders arrived in front of the main Spanish army. 
Dr. Wood had been given a higher command, and Roosevelt 
now headed the regiment. When the first American cannon 
was fired, the men cheered wildly. Roosevelt moved his men 
toward the Spanish lines, then waited for orders to advance 
further. No orders came. He took matters into his own 
hands. Waving his hat, he rode forward, through the lines 
of another waiting regiment. Stirred by this example the 
men of the second regiment jumped up and followed also. 

Up the slope of Kettle Hill went the Americans. Roose¬ 
velt’s horse became entangled in a wire fence, and he finished 


346 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


the charge afoot. The hill was won. Then across the next 
valley and up San Juan Hill stormed Roosevelt, Rough- 
Riders and regulars, white and black, crowding behind him. 
The Spaniards could not stand the charge. They leaped from 
their trenches, left their machine-guns, and fled, Roosevelt 
managing, however, to shoot one more with his revolver. 

The Spanish army surrendered before the Americans 
could do any more fighting, and the Riders came home. 
Roosevelt was now a hero to the nation. Every one knew 
how brave he had been and how well he had performed all 
his duties as a soldier. The people of New York State made 
him their governor. For two years he jerved the people well. 
Then came a call for him to be Vice-President. Roosevelt 
did not care for that office; he wanted to be governor once 
more; but at last he yielded to his friends and was elected 
along with President McKinley. Some of his enemies 
laughed in their sleeves. “ He is buried in that office,” they 
said. “The people will forget him.” .But plans sometimes 
go wrong. 

II. THE COMPLETE AMERICAN 

The New President.—The enemies of Roosevelt could not 
foresee that a deadly bullet would strike down President 
McKinley, but that happened at Buffalo. As Roosevelt sat 
one vacation day by the shore of a lonely lake far in the 
Adirondack Mountains, a messenger waving a telegram 
came out of the woods. “ The President is worse,” said the 
message. Before Roosevelt could reach the railroad station, 
many miles away, McKinley was dead, with only half a year 
of his term gone. Roosevelt, therefore, stepped into the office 
for nearly the full four years. Not yet forty-three, he was 
the youngest of our Presidents. 

Many people said that Roosevelt was too hasty and head¬ 
strong to be a good leader of the nation, but that did not 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


347 


prove to be a fact. On the whole, Americans liked his plain 
way of talking, his vim, his quickness, and his freedom from 
show. He never pretended to be anything but a man among 
his fellow-men. Though our people did not always agree 
with his strong opinions, they always gave him credit for 
being honest and desiring to do right. When Roosevelt used 
one of his most famous expressions, “ square deal,” every¬ 
one knew that lie meant it. 

Conservation and Peace.—The first big work of President 
Roosevelt was conservation. By this he meant saving 
America’s real wealth—her forests, her minerals, her 
waters—and using these to the best advantage for the benefit 
of all. Selfish people wanted to grab these things or to 
waste them, but Roosevelt said, “Not so. We are ruining 
our land. We must restore our fine forests; we must use our 
coal, our oil, our natural gas, as wisely as we can; we must 
keep our streams pure and make them work for us, too.” 
Now every educated person knows what conservation means 
and wants to see it carried out; but to Roosevelt must 
be given the honor of putting that idea into the minds of 
the Americans. 

When the next Presidential election came, the people 
thought Roosevelt had done so well that he ought to stay in 
the White House. He was elected by the greatest number 
of votes that any President had ever received. Russia and 
Japan were at war. The war was a frightful loss to both 
nations, and it began to be very bad for the rest of the world. 
“ Can’t there be peace ? ” asked Roosevelt. “ I offer my 
services to get these fighters to> agree.” On the deck of the 
President’s yacht, the Mayflower, the representatives of the 
enemy nations came together. Before the treaty of peace 
was finally signed, it took three months of hard work on the 
part of Roosevelt; but the peace was worth it. “ Mr. Presi¬ 
dent,” said one of his friends, “ I think we’ll have to make a 


348 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


new department in our government and put you in as Secre¬ 
tary of Peace.” 

The Great Canal. —Another task was on the President’s 
mind. It was the Panama Canal. For seventy-five years, 
Americans had been hoping that a canal would be made 
between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The French had begun 
to dig one through the Isthmus of Panama, where the land is 
narrowest. Under the leadership of a famous engineer, who 
had already dug the great Suez Canal, they started the work 
with high hopes. This was a harder task, however. Their 
men died like flies from the yellow fever, and those who 
handled the money also wasted much of it. Work stopped, 
and the costly machinery rusted in the Panama jungle. 

America wished to take up the work in which the French 
had failed, but we found it hard to strike a good bargain 
with either the French or with the country of Colombia, 
which owned the Isthmus. Finally the people who lived on 
the Isthmus separated from Colombia and formed the 
Republic of Panama. In spite of Colombia’s objections, 
President Roosevelt made with Panama a treaty by which 
we bought for ten million dollars a strip of land ten miles 
wide stretching from ocean to ocean. As we intended to 
build our canal through it, this strip was called the Canal 
Zone. It is about one-fourth the size of the little state 
of Delaware. 

In 1904 the work was begun. There were many difficul¬ 
ties. Foremost was that of health, but Doctor William C. 
Gorgas was given charge of that matter. He made war on 
the fever-carrying mosquito, and before long the Canal Zone 
was changed from a fever-swamp to a real health resort. 
Yellow fever and malaria vanished with the mosquitoes. 
Next, the engineers had to cut away the jungle, fill up the 
marshes, blast away the hills, construct immense locks, build 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


349 


great dams. They went at everything with American energy, 
and, as Roosevelt said, “ made the dirt fly.” 

Roosevelt’s Big Ditch.—Two years after the canal work 
began, the President thought he ought to see with his own 
eyes how it was getting along. No President before him 
had ever left the United States during his term of office, and 
people had grown to think it would be wrong for a President 
to step off American soil. Roosevelt, however, never worried 
as to what other people had done or had not done. He wanted 
to see the Canal, so off he and Mrs. Roosevelt started on one 
of our battleships. On the way the President amused him¬ 
self by eating a meal with the crew and by shoveling coal into 
the big fires under the boilers. 

When Roosevelt arrived at the Isthmus, every one turned 
out to welcome the stocky, muscular, vigorous head of our 
nation. The high officers of the Canal planned a banquet for 
him. “ I have no time for banquets,” said he. “ I came to 
inspect the canal.” As he landed, a downpour of rain soaked 
his white duck suit, but Roosevelt never in his life stopped 
on account of weather. Straight ahead he went, viewing 
everything, with a stenographer by his side taking down the 
answers to questions which he fired in machine-gun style. 
For three days he poked into every nook and corner. “ You 
are a straight lot of Americans, and I am proud of you! ” 
said he at last to the Yankees who were putting the canal 
through; and they shouted in reply, “Teddy’s all right! ” 

But the Canal went forward too slowly for Roosevelt’s 
impatient spirit. “ It must be pushed,” thought he. Finally 
he selected to push it Colonel George W. Goethals, of the 
Engineer Corps, who had seen service in our war with Spain. 
No better man could have been chosen. Colonel Goethals 
did push it along. Forty thousand Americans, besides an 
army of West Indian negroes and brown men of the Isthmus, 
worked on the job. 


350 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


Although it was beyond even Uncle Sam’s great power 
to complete it in Roosevelt’s term, the Canal was finished 
nearly a year before the time fixed. One August day of 
1914 the Secretary of War, on a United States vessel, crossed 
the Isthmus by water and declared the Canal open to com¬ 
merce. Roosevelt’s “ Big Ditch,” the new roadway for the 
world, a magnificent monument, was done. Had it not been 
for “Teddy,” it is not likely that we should have seen this 
wonderful water-path. 

Africa and Europe.—When Roosevelt’s term ended, he 
was asked by his friends to seek the office, once more, but he 
refused, and Judge Taft became President. Roosevelt had 
long been planning a vacation, and he took it in a novel way. 
With his son Kermit and a few friends, Roosevelt set off for 
East Africa, and there spent a year hunting big game. It was 
a, year of thrilling adventure in a strange land. Elephants, 
lions, even the savage rhinoceros, fell before his rifle. 

Roosevelt’s return through Europe was a procession of 
triumph. Everywhere the people flocked to see this soldier- 
hunter-statesman-President. Everywhere the important men 
of the various cities asked him to lecture or invited him to 
splendid banquets. No American since General Grant had 
received such a royal reception. In the minds of the people 
of the Old World, Roosevelt’s energy and daring stood for 
that of his fellow-Americans. He was the great representa¬ 
tive of our great country, and the rulers of Europe delighted 
to do him honor. 

Elections and Exploring.—Back again on his native soil, 
Roosevelt sought his home and family at Sagamore Hill, but 
he did not rest long there. Rest was not part of his life. 
Over the country he went preaching the duty of keeping our¬ 
selves up to the highest point of training, either for peace or 
for war. He wanted to see the best America which Americans 
could make. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


351 


No wonder that when the next election came for Presi¬ 
dent many voices called for Roosevelt. President Taft 
wished to return to the White House, and Woodrow Wilson, 
governor of New Jersey, entered the race. Roosevelt’s party 
was called by the good name of “ Progressive.” Excitement 
concerning the election was great; in the end Roosevelt and 
Taft so directly opposed each other that Governor Wilson 
became our President. 

Again Roosevelt started off on an exploring tour, this 
time in South America. “ I want to do this before I get too 
old,” he said. The many hardships were endured by him as 
uncomplainingly as ever. Under the guidance of a noted 
Brazilian army officer, Roosevelt and his party plunged into 
absolute wilderness, and when they appeared once more they 
had put a new river upon the map. 

Roosevelt and the Great War.—To a man of such spirit 
as Roosevelt, the entrance of America into the Great War 
was an instant call to arms. He offered to raise, not a regi¬ 
ment, but a division (twelve thousand men) of volunteers. 
He could easily have carried out his offer, but the War 
Department had other plans, and did not accept, so Roosevelt 
stayed unwillingly at home. His four sons—Theodore, 
Kermit, Archie, and Quentin—all volunteered. Quentin, the 
“ baby,” became an aviator, and met a soldier’s death in 
France, while Theodore, the eldest, gained the rank of lieu¬ 
tenant-colonel. All proved worthy sons of their brave father. 

Roosevelt lived to see the end of the fighting'. He rejoiced 
that his country had taken a share, and a great share, in beat¬ 
ing down Germany and making the world safe for democracy. 
But his rugged health was broken by wilderness hardship and 
constant toil and thought. He passed away before the peace 
terms were signed, but though he did not reach old age, his 
was a full and successful life. A man both of words and 
of deeds, at home in the field of sport and the field of books, 


3 52 


OUR COUNTRY’S LEADERS 


standing for the best he could imagine for the American 
family and the American nation—was there ever a more com¬ 
plete American than Theodore Roosevelt ? 

FOR DISCUSSION AND LIBRARY WORK 

1. Name all the lines of athletics which Roosevelt carried on during 

his life. Which of these do you like best ? Why ? 

2. What were some of Roosevelt’s experiences with the cowboys and 

“ bad men ” of the West ? 

3. Find out how Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt got their 

regiment to Cuba. 

4. Prove that conservation has done the nation good. 

5. Tell an interesting story about the building of the Panama Canal. 

6. Describe the voyage of Roosevelt down the “ River of Doubt,” or 

“ River Theodore,” in Brazil. 

7. Name several of Roosevelt’s books which show by their titles his 

various lines of action. 


INDEX 


A 

Adams, John, 43, 64, 68, 123 
Adams, John Quincy, 123 
Adams, Samuel, 20, 42, 43, 63, 75 
Adirondack Mountains, 346 
Alabama, 118, 149 
Albany, N. Y., 93, 181, 342 
Albany Convention, 12 
Allston, Washington, 202 
Almanacs, 5 

Annapolis, 27, 35, 41, 52, 80 
Antietam, Md., 314 
Appalachian Mountains, 70, 81, 131, 
232, 290 

Appomattox, Va., 274, 295, 310 
Arc-light, 239 
Arlington, Va., 301, 311 
Arnold, Benedict, 15 
Armenia, 329 
Arthur, President, 329 
Atlantic cable, 224 
Ayres, Captain, 25 

B 

Bainbridge, Captain, 108 
Baltimore, 187, 210, 272, 326 
Baltimore and Ohio R. R., 187 
Bank of North America, 96 
Bank of the U. S., 96. 126 
Barbary pirates, 101, 106 
Barclay, Captain, 110 
Barron, Commodore, 106 
Barry, Commodore, 101 
Barton, Clara, 324 
Baton Rouge, La., 249 
23 


Bell, Alexander G., 213, 232, 238 
Belmont, Mo., 289 
Benton, Thomas G., 126, 150 
Biddle, Nicholas, 126 
“ Bird Woman,” 144 
Birmingham, Eng., 174 
Black Hawk, 254 
Bluegrass Country, 135 
Blue Ridge, 61, 192, 294 
“ Bonhomme Richard,” 77 
Boone, Daniel, 81, 124, 129, 143 
Boonesboro, Ky., 135, 143 
Booth, J. Wilkes, 274 
Boston, 1, 15, 20, 26, 31, 37, 42, 44, 
202, 215, 232, 262, 338 
“ Boston Gazette,” 1 
“ Boston Tea Party,” 26, 28, 42, 
90, 133 

Braddock, General, 38, 131 
“ Braddock Field,” 98 
Brandywine, Battle of, 47, 100 
Brazil, 216, 352 
Bryan, Wm. J., 317 
Buchanan, James, 158, 265 
Buffalo, N. Y., 322, 346 
Buffaloes, 135, 152 
Bunker Hill, 44, 75 
Bunker Hill Monument, 186 
Burgoyne, General, 17, 51, 82 
Burnside, General, 270 

C 

Cabinet, The, 67 
Calhoun, John, 123, 125 
California, 151, 154 
Cambridge, Mass., 44 


353 


354 


INDEX 


Canada, 15, 214 
Canals, 174, 280 
Canal Zone, 348 
Canton, O., 315, 321 
Capitol, The, 69, 120, 208, 261, 307 
Carpenters’ Hall, 35 
Carroll, Charles, 188 
Carson, Kit, 151, 153, 157 
Cascades, The, 147 
Centennial Exposition, 222, 235, 239 
Champlain, Lake, 15 
Charleston, 27, 149, 265 
Chemistry, 228 
Cherokee Indians, 134 
Chesapeake Bay, 35, 47 
Chew House, 48 
Chicago, 87, 198, 334, 336 
Christ Church, Phila., 19, 56 
Cincinnati, 150, 197, 278 
City Point, Va., 294 
Civil War, 95, 120, 125, 213, 231 
Clark, George Rogers, 81, 137, 142, 
250 

Clark, William, 141, 151 
Clay, Henry, 123, 127, 255 
Clearwater River, 146 
“ Clermont,” The, 179, 186, 300 
Cleveland, Grover, 317, 343 
Cleveland, O., 87, 198 
Clinton, De Witt, 123 
Colombia, 348 
Columbia River, 146, 284 
Columbia University, 89 
Committees of Correspondence, 24, 
28 

Concord, Mass., 14, 28, 37, 134 
Conestoga Creek, 171 
Congress, First Continental, 15, 35, 
42 

Congress, Second Continental, 29, 
42, 53, 63, 93 


Conservation, 347 
Constitution, U. S., 54, 95 
Constitutional Convention, 18, 53, 
94 

Continental Army, 17, 43, 49, 92 
Continental Navy, 75 
Cooper, Peter, 189 
Cornwallis, General, 51, 66, 92 
Cotton-gin, 160, 199 
Council Bluffs, la., 143 
Cradle, grain, 193 
Creek Indians, 119, 149 
Crockett, David, 124 
Cuba, 318, 329, 344 
Cumberland Gap, 132, 135 
Cumberland River, 123 
Custis, Martha, 38, 59 

D 

Davis, Jefferson, 265, 274, 294, 305 
Decatur, Ill., 251 
Decatur, Stephen, 100, 108, 142 
Decimal system, 97 
Declaration of Independence, 15, 
30, 47, 63, 73, 188 
Delaware Bay, 47, 100 
Delaware River, 45, 51 
Democrats, 68 
Detroit, 84, 87, 229 
Dewey, Admiral, 320, 344 
District of Columbia, 55 
Dogs, eating, 146, 152 
Dollars, 97 

Dom Pedro, Emperor, 216, 224 
Douglas, Stephen A., 259, 262 
Duquesne, Fort, 131 

E 

East River, 179 
Edison, Thomas, 227 
Electric chair, 10 


INDEX 


355 


Ellicott’s Mills, Md., 189 

Ellsworth, Annie, 209 

Emancipation Proclamation, 271 

Embargo, 71 

Erie Canal, 204 

Erie, Lake, 109, 197 

Erie, Lake, Battle of, 110, 118 

Evanston, Ill., 334 

Everett, Edward, 272 

F 

Farewell Address, Washington’s, 57 
Federalists, 68 
Federal Hall, 54 
Federal Reserve Banks, 97 
Films, 244 
Finley, John, 131 
Flatboats, 248 
Florida, 117, 120, 197, 329 
France, 15, 51, 72, 101, 208, 328, 
348 

Franklin, Benjamin, 1, 21, 30, 32, 
50, 62, 76, 205 
Franklin stove, 10 
Fremont, John Charles, 149 
Fremont’s Peak, 153 
French and Indian War, 70, 81, 131 
Frigate, 101 
Fulton, Robert, 169 

G 

Gage, General, 28, 42, 44 
Galena, Ill., 287, 296 
Garfield, President, 328 
Gas, 239 

“ Gate of the Mountains,” 144 
Gates, General, 93 
Geneva Treaty, 329 
Gentryville, Ind., 247 
George the Third, 24, 30, 66, 90 


George, Lake, 15 
Georgetown, D. C., 69 
Georgetown, O., 278 
Georgia, 149, 163 
Germantown, Phila., 48, 50 
Gettysburg Address, 272 
Gettysburg, Battle of, 272, 290, 308 
“ Glenmont,” 242 
Goethals, Colonel, 349 
Gold, Discovery of, 154, 157 
“ Golden Gate,” 155 
Gorgas, Dr. Wm. C., 348 
Gramophone, 243 

Grant, U. S., 121, 272, 278, 301, 
309, 350 

Graphophone, 243 

Gravity road, 186 

Gray, Capt. Robert, 146, 151 

Great American Desert, 154 

Great Basin, 153 

Great Divide, 141, 145 

Great Lakes, 81, 109 

Great Plains, 154 

Great Salt Lake, 153 

Great Smoky Range, 117 

Great War, 58, 351 

Greene, Mrs., 163 

Greene, General, 48, 51, 66, 91, 163 

Grizzly bears, 144 

H 

Hamilton, Alexander, 67, 88, 106, 
126 

Hamilton, Colonel, 81, 84, 138 
Hancock, John, 28, 30 
Harmonic telegraph, 219 
Harrisburg, Pa., 280, 308 
Harrison, President, 109 
Harvard College, 20, 126, 268, 342 
Havana, 32, 91 
Hayes, President, 238, 316 


356 


INDEX 


Henderson, Judge, 134 
Henry, Joseph, 219 
Henry, Patrick, 32, 42, 59, 60, 63, 
66, 75, 82, 93, 130 
Henry, William, 172 
“Hermitage,” The, 123, 127 
Hessians, 45 
Highlands, The, 180 
Holston River, 135 
Hooker, General, 270, 290 
Horn, Cape, 146, 157 
Horseshoe Bend, 119 
Houston, Sam, 124 
Howe, General, 17, 44, 47, 50, 55, 
100 

Hudson River, 15, 176, 182, 211, 300 
Hull, Captain, 108 

I 

Illinois, 82, 85, 197, 250, 263 
Illinois River, 251 
Incandescent lamp, 241 
Inclined planes, 174 
Independence Hall, 65, 94 
Independence Square, 65 
Indiana, 83, 109, 197, 246 
“Intrepid,” The, 103 
Iowa, 197 
“ Ironsides, Old,” 

J 

Jackson, Andrew, 114, 149, 255, 301 
Jackson, “ Stonewall,” 270 
James River, 36, 197, 294, 306 
Japan, 347 
Jefferson River, 144 
Jefferson, Thomas, 16, 30, 59, 75, 
82, 97, 108, 141, 147, 166, 179, 186, 
261 

Johnson, Andrew, 296 


Johnston, General, 292, 306 
Jones, John Paul, 17, 74 

K 

Kanawha River, 140 
Kansas, 200 
Kansas City, 152 
Kansas River, 143 
Kaskaskia, 84 
Kearny, General, 156 
Kenton, Simon, 138 
Kentucky, 56, 81, 131, 139, 259 
Kentucky River, 135 
Kinetoscope, 244 
King’s College, 89 

L 

Lafayette, Marquis de, 51, 205 
Lancaster, Pa., 47, 169 
Lee, Robert E., 270, 284, 292, 300 
Lehigh River, 12, 186 
Lewis, Meriwether, 141, 151 
Lexington* Battle of, 14, 28, 37, 75, 
134 

Lexington, Va., 194, 311 
Leyden jars, 9 
Liberty Bell, 47, 56 
Lightning-rod, 8 

Lincoln, Abraham, 158, 246, 289, 
294, 303, 321 
Lint, 161 
Liverpool, 205 
Livingston, Harriet, 181 
Livingston, Robert R., 71, 176 
Locomotives, 189 
London, 187 

Longfellow, Henry W., 44 
Long Island, Battle of, 92 
“ Long Knives,” 84 
Louis, King, 17, 79, 83 


INDEX 


Louisiana, 70, 141, 283 
Louisville, Ky., 83, 142, 247 

M 

“ Macedonian,” 104 
Madison, Tames, 61 
Mail Service, 11 
“ Maine,” The, 319, 329 
Malt, 20 
Manila, 320, 344 
Maryland, 27, 100, 130, 308, 314 
Massachusetts, 21, 161, 166, 262, 
324 

Mason and Dixon line, 265 
Mauch Chunk, Pa., 186 
McClellan, General, 270, 306 
McCormick, Cyrus, 192, 258 
McKinley, William, 313, 344 
Meade, General, 272, 290, 292, 308 
Mediterranean Sea, 101, 108 
Menlo Park, N. J., 235, 238 
Mexico, 151, 155, 283, 302 
Michigan, 197 
Midshipmen, 101 
Military Academy, U. S., 280 
Miniatures, 173, 202 
Minnesota, 200 
Mint, U. S., 97 

Mississippi River, 70, 81, 120, 147, 
196, 232, 248, 272, 288, 302, 329 
Missouri, 140, 197 
Missouri River, 142, 145, 151 
Mobile, 120 
Monroe, James, 61, 71 
Montgomery, General, 15 
Monticello, 62, 66, 72, 82, 141, 197 
Montreal, 15 
Moors, 101, 106 
Morris, Robert, 76, 96 
Morristown, N. J., 92, 206 


357 

Morse, Sami. F. B, 202, 214, 227, 
231 

Motion pictures, 243 
Mount Vernon, 35, 39, 41, 53, 55, 
57, 127, 300 

“ Mulberry Grove,” Ga., 163 

N 

Nails, 162 

Napoleon, 71, 112, 122 
Nashville, 116 
“ Nautilus,” 176 
Naval Academy, 80 
Navy, Continental, 75 
Nebraska, 200 
Nevis, 88 

New Haven, 162, 167 
New Jersey, 45, 47, 51, 235, 242, 
351 

New Mexico, 157 
New Orleans, 70, 120, 183, 197, 248 
New Orleans, Battle of, 121 
New Salem, Ill., 251 
New York, 45, 178 
New York City, 1, 27, 45, 54, 66, 
89, 95, 183, 204, 211, 233, 298, 
337, 340 

North Carolina, 75, 115, 130 
North Dakota, 143, 200 
North River, 179 
“ Northwest Country,” 81, 87, 138 
Nullification, 125 

O 

Ogden, William, 198 
Ohio, 109, 187, 197, 227, 279, 313 
“ Ohio Country,” 138 
Ohio River, 81, 131, 136, 142, 197, 
248 

Old South Church, 26 


INDEX 


358 

Oregon, 128, 151, 152, 284 
Oyster Bay, L. I., 340 

P 

Pakenham, General, 122 
Panama Canal, 348 
Panama, Isthmus of, 157, 284, 348 
Pan-American Exposition, 322 
Paris, 80 

Patent, 166, 174, 211, 237 
Pearson, Captain, 78 
Pedro, Dom, 216, 224 
“ Peggy Stewart,” The, 27 
“ Pennsylvania Gazette,” 5, 6, 12 
Perry, Oliver H., 108 
Petroleum, 239 

Philadelphia, 1, 17, 20, 24, 28, 41, 
47, 50, 55, 69, 93, 117, 127, 223, 
272, 280 

“ Philadelphia,” The, 102, 108 
Philippine Islands, 320 
Phonograph, 237, 243 
Photographs, First, 208 
Pickett’s charge, 309 
Pittsburgh, 98, 142, 183, 280 
Platte River, 143 
“ Plunging-boat,” 175 
Poland, O., 313 
Polk, President, 128 
“ Polly,” The, 25 

Poor Richard’s Almanac, 5, 6, 11, 
77 

Port Huron, Mich., 229 
Porto Rico, 320 

Potomac River, 35, 39, 53, 55, 130, 
187, 268, 300 

Preble, Commodore, 102 
Pullman, George, 230 


Q 

Quincy, Mass., 186 

R 

Railroads, 186 
Raleigh Tavern, 63 
“ Ranger,” The, 76 
Reaper, 193, 223 
Red Cross Society, 328 
Republican Party, 68 
Revere, Paul, 28 
Rhode Island, 66, 166 
Richmond, Va., 36, 63, 197, 273, 
289, 294, 305, 309 
Rio Grande, 128, 156 
Rittenhouse, David, 97 
Rocky Mountains, 144, 151, 157 
Rodney, Caesar, 64 
Roosevelt, Theodore, 320, 330, 340 
Rough Riders, 344 
Russia, 80, 347 

S 

Sacajawea, 144 
Sacramento, 154 
Salem, Mass., 216 
Salisbury, N. C., 115 
Salt Lake, Great, 153 
Salt-lick, 132, 135 
San Francisco, 156 
Sangamon River, 251 
San Juan Hill, 329, 346 
Santa Cruz, 88 
Santiago, Cuba, 320 
Saratoga, Battle of, 17, 51, 82 
“Savannah,” The, 183 
Savannah, Ga., 149, 163 
Schuyler, Elizabeth, 93 
Schuyler, Gen. Philip, 93 


INDEX 


359 


Schuylkill River, 48, 130 
“ Scientific American,” 237 
Scotland, 74, 213 
Scott, Gen. Winfield, 265, 302 
Scottsville, Va., 197 • 

Secession, 265, 304 
Seine River, 177 
“ Serapis,” The, 77 
Seward, Wm. E., 291 
Shenandoah Valley, 315 
Sheridan, Gen., 294 
Sherman, Gen., 273, 290, 292 
Sierra Nevada, 154 
Sims, Admiral, 344 
Slavery, 62, 158, 166, 263, 271, 303 
Snake, Franklin’s, 12 
Snake River, 146 
South Anna River, 32, 130 
South Carolina, 125, 163, 265 
South Dakota, 200 
South Pass, Wyo., 152 
“ Spoils system,” 125 
Springfield, Ill., 257, 266, 276, 287 
St. John’s Church, 36, 63 
St. Louis, 140, 142, 147, 151, 198, 
282, 285 

Stage-coach, 

Stamp Act, 13, 14, 21, 35, 63, 161 
Stanton, Edwin, 200 
State Rights, 68 
Staunton, Va., 196 
Steam-battery, Fulton’s, 183 
Steamboat, 176, 248 
Stephenson, George, 189 
Stewart, Anthony, 27 
Stockton, Commodore, 156 
Stove, Franklin, 10 
Submarine boat, 175 
Suez Canal, 348 


Sumter Fort, 125, 265, 287, 314, 
326 

Sumter, General, 114 
Sutter’s Fort, 154, 157 

T 

“Tad” Lincoln, 260, 268, 270 
Taft, President, 350 
Tallapoosa River, 119 
Tariff, 125, 316 

Tea Party, Boston, 26, 28, 42 
Tea tax, 24 

Telegraph, 123, 206, 214, 225, 232 
Telephone, 219, 232 
Temperance Crusade, 

Tennessee, 117, 132, 289 
Texas, 128, 155, 283, 302 
Thomas, General, 290 
Thomas, Philip, 187 
Tohopeka, Battle of, 119 
“ Tom Thumb ” engine, 189 
Tories, 23, 46, 47, 90 
Torpedo, 174 
Tramways, 186 
Transylvania Company, 134 
Treasury, Secretary of, 67, 96 
Trenton, Battle of, 45, 92 
Tripoli, 102, 142 
Turks, 80, 329 

U 

“ United States,” The, 104 
United States, Bank of, 

V 

Vacuum, 240 
Vail, Alfred, 206 
Valley Forge, 48, 52, 56 
Vermont, 56, 139 


360 


INDEX 


( 

Vicksburg, 273, 289, 309 
Vincennes, Ind., 84, 250 
Virgin Islands, 88 
Virginia, 32, 38, 54, 59, 66, 74, 82, 
87, 134, 192, 268, 305, 311 

W 

Wabash River, 83, 250 
War of 1812, 104, 108, 149, 168, 192 
Washington City, 55, 69, 106, 120, 
208, 219, 261, 266, 291, 303, 307, 
326 

Washington, George, 15, 18, 35, 38, 
63, 67, 72, 91, 108, 117, 131, 166, 
202, 246, 277, 300, 305 
Washington Monument, 268 
Washington and Lee Univ., 312 
Watauga River, 135 
Watt, James, 172 
Watson, Thomas, 219 
Wayne, General, 48, 138 
W. C. T. U., 336 
Webster, Daniel, 127 
West, Benjamin, 172, 202 
Western Union Tel. Co., 232, 236 


West Indies, 88, 320 
West Point, 280, 296, 301 
West Virginia, 140, 305, 308, 314 
Whale oil, 239 
Wheeling, W. Va., 

Whig party, 

Whiskey Rebellion, 98 
White House, 70, 238, 267, 291, 
296, 301, 319, 347 
Whitney, Eli, 160, 189, 199, 324 
Wilderness Road, 134, 138 
Willard, Frances E., 332 
William and Mary College, 60 
Williamsburg, Va., 33, 35, 60, 82, 
137 

Wilson, President, 58, 196, 351 
Wisconsin, 332 
Wood, Leonard, 345 
Wyoming, 152 

Y 

Yadkin River, 131 
Yale College, 162, 202 
Yellowstone River, 144 
Yorktown, 51, 53, 92 



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